THG JOURNAI9 



OF 



^Re department of flgricurture 



LIBRARY 



OP p^EW YORK 



BOTANICAL 

 VICTORIA. QARDEN. 



Vol. IX. Part 11. loth November, 1911. 



VICTORIAX TREE PLANTING COMPETITION. 1<.)12-15. 



/. M. Reed, I.S.O., Surveyor-General. 



In two previous papers published in this Journal* I endeavoured to 

 impress on its readers the great importance of systematic tree phinting 

 as an aid to settlement. Unfortunately, the idea that tree growth is 

 opposed to the interests of settlement is much too prevalent, and the work 

 of destruction, rather than preservation or renewal, is in general operation. 

 The experience of other countries furnishes abundant evidence of the need 

 of greater interest in this subject and,, where formerly wholesale destruc- 

 tion was the rule, we now find active effort to promote timber growth. 



In the United States excellent work is being done, it being now fully 

 realized that the future welfare of the nation is dependent to a great 

 extent on its timl>er supplies, and this question has, in the country named, 

 been designated " Our greatest problem." To Australians, the subject 

 should be of special interest, as Australia is the home of the Eucalypt, 

 the particular tree which is now claiming the attention of the world, and 

 which is being planted in every continent, its great value being recognized 

 and its growth promoted. The late Baron von Mueller, formerly Govern- 

 ment Botanist of Victoria, to whom we owe so much for our knowledge 

 of the Australian flora, wrote the following : — 



Tile Kuciil) [Its are (Jestined to plav a prominent ])arl for all time to come in the 

 sylvan culture of vast tracts of the ijlobe ; ami, for hardwood supplies, for sanitary 

 measures, and for beneficent climatic changes, all countries within the warmer zones 

 will, with ajtpreciative extensiveiiess, have to ri-lv on our Kucalypts durinfj a yet 

 uncountable period. 



So highlv are the Eucalypts valued in .\m<'rica that the following 

 official testimony has been given — 



In fact, they have probably served more .x-sthetic and ulilit.irian jmrposes than 

 anv other forest trees that have been iihintcd 0:1 this continent. 



' — It is not suggested that planting shoiiM ix' restricted to one special 



5^ variety of tree. Although the Eucalypt is undoubtedly the most valuable 

 *~ timlier tree, many others claim attention on account of their peculiar 



^^ • "A Plea for Tree I'laiitinK ami Trre Vr\-*vx\aX'v>\\," Journal oj AgricuUurf. DccimiiIkt. inOfi.--"The 



C^ Iinportanrc of Tree IMantiii^r," Journal of Agriculture. Si'|>tenil>cr, l!K1t. 



o '•'"■"■ -" 



