38 NOTES ON MT. ANNE AND THE WELD BIVEU VALLEY. 



there. The entrance to the Weld Valley over the river flats 

 and quartzites is unpromising, but there appears to be some 

 ten miles or so of country which is at least no worse than 

 the majority of the Huon district. There is some similar 

 country around Mt. Mueller and doubtless on the flanks of 

 the Snowy Mountains, all of which will warrant opening up 

 as facilities are pushed farther out. 



But the quartzite country that composes most of the 

 area is very poor. The hard siliceous rock weathers very 

 slowly, and with the heavy rainfall that exists there steep 

 hillsides are Avashed bare before soil can accumulate to any 

 depth, and will only support buttongrass and small flowers. 

 Around the head waters of the Styx and Weld soil from 

 this quartzite and the limestone deposits there has accumu- 

 lated to a considerable depth and now supports a luxuriant 

 forest growth. Much of this land will probably support 

 agricultural crops when its turn comes to be opened up, and 

 the heavy rainfall will assist cultivation, but when the 

 forests are removed it is doubtful whether the shallow soil 

 will not be washed away. 



The timber in the Weld Valley appeared poor and patchy 

 although there are good quantities of Beech (F. cnnnivg- 

 hami). On the south-west of Mt. Mueller there is a fine 

 but small area of Yellow Gum (E. gunnii) and mountain 

 peppermint (/?. coccifera) . The lower slopes of Mt. Mueller 

 will yield quantities of valuable timber for the Tyenna mills, 

 and the Weld Valley possesses enough to make it worth 

 while protecting until it can be milled, but it is not a pre- 

 eminent timbeft area. 



The western half of the area is at present valueless. 

 Half has been scraped bare of soil by recent glaciation and 

 the other half strewn with outwash gravels consisting largely 

 of small angular chips of quartzite. The utilisation of the 

 great buttongrass swamps of the west is one of the most 

 pressing problems at present. It would pay the Govern- 

 ment handsomely to institute research work into their possi- 

 bilities and requirements for cultivation, but without system- 

 atic scientific research every effort to use them will be 

 wasted, and it would be certainly a leap in the dark to spend 

 money on them in, for example, planting exotic pines, with- 

 out knowing more about them than wc do at present. 



Should this area ever be used it is to be hoped that the 

 possibility of canalising the Iluon and joining it by a canal 

 via Lake Pedder to the Serpentine and thence to the Gordon 

 will not be overlooked. This should prove quite possible. 



