290 THE r.LACK WATTLi: [XUUSTRV. 



pn.duction of them, and I am convinced that the man who burns 

 badly for renewal, and cultivates badly (»r not at all afterwards, 

 usually has poorer succession crops, whereas the man who 

 secures a thoroughly good l)urn and culti\ates well has better 

 succession crops. 



Not many men can go back into many rotations, under 

 regularly good cultivation, with an\- exactitude, but from 

 Ravensworth f^state. where wattle culture has been u]^ to date 

 at all times since wattles were introduced, we have this impor- 

 tant testimony from Messrs. Angus and Co. : 



" The yield of bark per acre varies according to the preva- 

 lence of drought, hail, snow, frost, hurricane, bagworm. frog- 

 hopper, locust, caterpillar, etc., and to freedom from all or some 

 of these. We have had an average yield of two tons per acre 

 from eight-year-old trees damaged by hail and other ]>lagues 

 and disabilities, and an average of 8J/3 tons from six-year-old 

 trees, where conditions of soil and good rainfall, etc.. have been 

 favourable. This was from a fifth rotation; four previous 

 heavy crops had been taken from tlie same plantation during 

 about 35 years. 



" Where there has been very severe burning of branches on 

 the site of a rotation, trees are incomparalily better than where 

 the burn has been slight or missed altogether. And when (as 

 now practised) the rotation has the soil broken up by heavy disc 

 cultivation, it is, of course, more like the soil condition of a 

 first crop than when merely cleaned between rows of new trees 

 by hand hoe." 



Messrs. Holley Bros. re]X)rt tlic succession crops to be 

 " better owing to better knowledge " ; 



Mr. E. T. Hill says: " Under good trcatmeni practically the 

 same '" ; 



While Sir ( ieorge Leuchars says: " i'j|ual if well cidtivated; 

 third crop has been 1)etter than the first." 



It is evident from such testimonies as these. an<l from what 

 one can observe in going o\er many estates, that the wattle does 

 not, of itself, impoverish tlie grotmd for fiuure wattle crops, 

 but that it is the farmer who makes or mars liis future cro]is bv 

 his treatment from the burning stage onward. 



Indeed, 1 go furihcr than that and say thai bad plcuighing 

 for the first crop, and consequent grassy condition, will continue 

 in evidence through several rotations, say, for 20 years, unless 

 it be rectified by sufficient l>m-ning on renewak which is difificult 

 in such case»through absence (^f branches. 



'i^he practice of negligent ploughing, or of contractors 

 ploughing on lowest (|U(>tations, mtist therefore be condemned, 

 as 2s. per acre saved in the first cost may rcMill in 20s. per acre 

 loss per anntmi for 20 years or more. 



A difticulty sometimes arises where felling has to go on 

 all the year round, or at certain seasons to suit fiow of sap or 

 other controlling conditions, in getting a satisfactory burn dur- 

 ing summer, and I ha\e seen this better managed by lea\ing the 



