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mature, while tanners and exporters would be assured that their 

 bark was stripped in the season when it possessed the maximum of 

 strength. The mass of evidence sets forth that the four months 

 of September, October, November, and December are those in 

 which the sap rises without intermission, and the bark is then 

 fully charged with tannin, and moreover easily removed from the 

 tree. This season does not vary more than twenty-one days all 

 over the colony, so that the four months specified will constitute 

 the bark season for the whole of Victoria. The impression appears 

 to have prevailed amongst bark-strippers that whenever the bark 

 would strip it possessed full tanning properties, but this is erro- 

 neous. After a few days of rain, during other seasons of the year, 

 a temporary flow of sap caused the bark to be easily detached from 

 the trunk, and strippers invariably regarded this as a sign that it 

 was fit for stripping, but the bark was greatly inferior in quality. 



Amongst other phases of the question submitted to them, the 

 Board endeavoured to obtain reliable information as to whether 

 any experiments had been made with a view to obtaining a larger 

 yield of bark per tree, or whether a more economic mode of strip- 

 ping could be introduced than has ruled in past years. Several 

 witnesses stated that, in their opinion, a decided advantage was to 

 be gained by leaving a continuous strip of bark, say two or three 

 inches wide, up the whole length of the tree thus maintaining a 

 constant flow of sap and sustaining the life of the tree. Other 

 witnesses stated that they had practically tested the efficacy of such 

 a scheme, but the Board came to the conclusion that the advan- 

 tage was doubtful. The bark left on the tree might sustain life, 

 and the bark itself be improved in weight, but the growth of the 

 tree would be impaired, and before the second stripping could be 

 effected new trees could be grown and advanced towards stripping. 

 The plan of thoroughly stripping the wattle when once commenced 

 is, in the opinion of the Board, the only one that should be recom- 

 mended. Stripping should in all cases be thorough, as the higher 

 branches often carry the best bark, according to some witnesses, 

 and under no circumstances should there be any bark left on the 

 tree. 



Under the system that has prevailed during past years, the only 

 regulation binding strippers was a provision inserted in the license 

 form to the effect that all trees should be cut down before the bark 

 was stripped. The Board from their own observations are aware 

 that this regulation was seldom, if ever, complied with, and they 

 would not recommend its inclusion in the code herewith appended. 

 The felling of the trees before or after stripping would only encum- 

 ber the ground, thereby checking the growth of young wattles and 

 of grass, besides rendering the country more liable to heavy bush 

 fires. 



