280 Forestry Quarterly 



flooding and the trees are safe there. The most satisfactory 

 eucalypts for growth have been Rostra and Tereticomis. Speci- 

 mens of these species on irrigated land have reached about two 

 feet in diameter and 120 feet in height in 40 years. Neither 

 of these trees produce satisfactory saleable timber here because 

 of their certainty of splitting. The species which though slower 

 growing produce the best timber in this district are Paniculata 

 and Crebra. 



The working plan calls for final cutting on an area of 450 acres 

 per year. This has never been done, the highest area cut over 

 in the last 5 years being 350 acres. As a result, final cuttings 

 are over 1,000 acres behind, a condition which seriously affects 

 the profit from the plantation. 



Thinnings have never been tried in the plantation until this 

 year, even though the condition of the stand, largely made up of 

 such a ragged species as mulberry coming up so close together, 

 urgently requires such treatment. The failure to have tried 

 thinnings is more unaccountable, when it is taken into considera- 

 tion, what must have been fairly obvious, that the first trial thin- 

 nings in mulberry at six years of age produced 1,000 cubic feet 

 of stacked wood per acre, and in addition to greatly improving the 

 condition of the stand resulted in a net profit of $1 to $20 

 per acre. 



The working plan is now being revised and it may be expected 

 that the new plan will provide for overtaking the arrears in 

 felling and for thinnings throughout two or three times in the 

 rotation. 



The outturn per acre is fairly high. The 20-year-old coppice, 

 exclusive of standards, produces 4,000 cubic feet of stacked 

 wood per acre. The utilization is very close, the stumps are cut 

 level with the ground, all dead wood is taken and everything 

 used down to a minimum diameter of one inch. 



The plantation is well supplied with good roads, each of the 

 10-acre blocks being surrounded by a road. The railroad runs 

 along one side of the plantation and the Forest Service has built 

 a 10-inch gauge tram with steel trucks operated by bullock power, 

 over which all timber is taken out. 



The whole of the work is done departmentally under contract. 

 The cutting of the timber is done under contract at 2 cents 



