38 FOREST CULTURE AND 
and Central America an article of great scarcity, and, 
therefore, this important tree should be copiously 
planted in the forests of tropical Australia. In the 
-earlier part of this century the supply of Saul timber 
of Lower India (Shorea robusta) was thought inex- 
haustible ; but now, already, this heavy and durable 
wood is hardly any longer procurable for ship-build- 
ing and engineering work, for which it is so much 
sought. Theaxes of the woodmen will also soon make 
such an inroad into the comparatively limited Yarrah 
forests of West Australia that also this timber, which 
for salt-water works is almost incomparable, will cease 
to be available long before a new and sufficient supply 
can be raised by regular culture. 
The Land Commissioner of the United States fur- 
ther reports, in 1868, that the frequent excessive 
droughts, and the occasional destructive inundations 
experienced a quarter of a century ago in Iowa, Kan- 
sas, and Nebraska, have much diminished since the 
regular settlement brought tree plantations and other 
cultures into the extensive treeless prairies. Iowa 
‘planted, in 1867, about seventy-six square miles of 
forest, and one thousand eight hundred and eighty 
four miles length of hedges. On the other hand, it is 
estimated already, in 1864, by Mr. P. T. Thomas, of 
New York, that the whole regions east of the Missis- 
sippi would be stripped of all really useful timber with- 
in twenty or thirty years ; while even for fuel great 
inroads are constantly made into the American for- 
ests, coal not being every where accessible in the States. 
The Hon. T. M. Edmonds (Report of the Department 
of Agriculture of U. S. for 1868) foresees the exhaus- 
tion of the timber resources of the United States in 
