76 FOREST CULTURE AND 
have conjointly sent over one million bushels to mar: 
ket in 1870. The yield, it is said, is from eighty to 
one hundred and twenty bushels on an acre. The 
seeds are slightly roasted for the table, or pressed for 
a palatable oil. As much as ten shillings to twelve 
shillings is paid for the bushel in New York. The 
plant seems well eligible for forest-farms, particularly 
in a somewhat calcareous soil. In the garden under 
my control I have reared it with ease. 
I intended to have spoken of the various imple- 
ments especially designed for wood-culture; but time - 
will not admit of it. Thus, merely by way of exam- 
ple, I place before you one of those utensils — the 
hohlborer, or, as it might be called, the ‘‘ bore-spade’’ 
—brought into use nearly fifty years ago by a scientific 
forester, Dr. Heyer, of Giessen. Several thousand 
plants of the Scotch Fir and of other pines can be lifted 
with this bore-spade in a day by one forest laborer, 
the object being that each seedling should retain a 
small earth-ball, to facilitate the success of the mov- 
ing process. About ten thousand such seedlings are 
conveyed at a time in a forest wagon.* 
And yet, it must be confessed, our colony, with 
others in the Australian group, has accomplished but 
very little in any branch of sylvan maintenance, or 
forest culture, or the advance of industrial pursuits 
in our woodlands. 
One precursory step, however, has been made, and. 
this is likely to be followed. I allude to the exten- 
sive gratuitous distribution of plants to public grounds 
in most parts of our colony—a distribution which has 
been in operation under the authority of Government 
* Since this lecture was delivered a short account of the bore-spade has 
appeared in the Melbourne Economist. 
