86 PRACTICAL FORESTRY 
“Tt is a curious thing to those who do not know 
the nature of the seeds of some of the tribe or natural 
order Leguminosze—the Albizzia, alias Mimosa, alias 
Acacia, alias Prickly Wattle, Hickory, Myall, Mulga, 
Black Wattle, ete., ete., and which tribe constitute 
our scrubs—that burning-off causes them to grow 
after lying in the ground for years; after burning off 
the stubble of what has been used for a long time as 
a cultivation paddock, wattle scrub will spring up 
which is almost impenetrable, and that after the mem- 
ory of a tree in the district has been lost. It seems 
to require a fire to crack the outer case that moisture 
may penetrate and cause germination. This is why 
constant clearing is necessary; in other words, select- 
ors burn off thinking to destroy, but they really assist 
and force the growth of these scrubs. Grass-burning 
will cause a sweet grass to grow, it is true, but with 
it acacias of various kinds spring up, some on the first 
year and more on the next, for they do not all get 
roasted alike, and the unknowing wonder where the 
growth comes from. The land at some previous year 
had wattles, ete., but, as they only live seven years, 
had died off; and no previous fire, no growth. In this 
peculiarity the wattle tribe does not stand alone; it 
is so with many other plants known to botanists.” 
Our Western lodgepole-pine is of interest in this 
respect. The seeds are formed in an extremely 
