124 ON THE TIMBER SUPPLY OF AUSTRALIA. 



ditch 2 feet 6 inches deep, 4 feet wide at the top and 2 feet wide at 

 the bottom, and to form by means of the earth thrown out a bank 

 of similar dimensions. In some positions shrubs might be grown 

 on the top of this, in others it may be only possible to gain further 

 protection against wind and cattle by an upright fence of stakes or 

 stronger timber firmly driven or dug into the embankment, and 

 held together by means of hoop-iron bands, to which the stakes are 

 nailed. Several kinds of poplar besides the common, as Populus 

 alba and tremula, also the American ash and Pinus alba, are well 

 known in Germany as trees which grow in the most open and ex- 

 posed localities. They defy there the cutting north-westerly winds 

 even on the poorest soil, and we may hope that they or other trees 

 may grow near to the sea, or where for 100 or more miles no trees 

 at present exist. Eventually they may enable us to plant such 

 trees in their shelter as are preferable to them. I am, how- 

 ever, quite unable to advise as to forest-planting from my experi- 

 ence gained in South Australia, and I fear but little experience is 

 available from other persons in the colony. I am therefore ob- 

 liged to leave this subject, and refer to some other subjects con- 

 nected with the conservancy of our native forests, which are 

 of sufficient importance to be mentioned in such a paper as I have 

 prepared. I heard at different times that the gum-trees died 

 without any apparent cause in many pai'ts of the colony, and 

 especially in the south-east. I observed once, many years ago, 

 that our bluegums died suddenly over an area of perhaps 15 or 

 20 acres in the Bugle Ranges, in the midst of a well-wooded dis- 

 trict. Last summer, however, my attention was called to the 

 following alarming fact : On a very large tract of timbered country 

 in the Hundred of Strathalbyn, said to be about 15 or 20 square 

 miles in extent, not a bluegum remained alive. All other gums, 

 white, yellow, or red, were luxuriant, while the bluegums, from 

 the largest tree to the smallest sapling, were dry, and the bark, 

 already cracked, i*eady to fall down this winter. It was remark- 

 able and perplexing to observe the exactly straight boundary-line 

 on one of the outskirts of this tract of land which I visited. 

 Within a few yards all bluegums were dead, and outside the line 

 they were as vigorous as ever. My time being too short, I could 

 not examine the trees properly to ascertain anything further ; but 

 such an examination ought yet to be made. At all events, inex- 

 plicable as it is to me, I thought it right to mention it, so that one 

 or other of my hearers or readers may venture an explanation, or 



