20 WATTLES AND WATTLE-BARKS. 



Victoria. Mr. I. Hallenstein, tanner, currier, and leather merchant, Mel- 

 bourne, " I do not think a farmer or anyone with the means 

 could produce any crop more valuable than the wattle bark. We 

 have got faith in it, or we would not have gone to the expense of 

 putting 800 or 1,000 acres under cultivation." 



The following evidence was given by Mr. W. Ferguson, Inspector of State 

 Forests, Victoria: 



"I calculated that from the time the seed was sown at the Majorca plan- 

 tations, Ballarat, in seven years we should get about 10 tons to the acre of 

 bark. That is, off the trees that were fit for barking at that time, and at the 

 rate of the present rate of bark it varies from 8 to 10 per ton. 



"You would get 10 tons to the acre? Tes. 



" From trees that have been how many years growing ? Seven years. 



" That would average 10 a ton ? Tes, at the present, and it is likely 

 to be more. 



" That is, 90 per acre ? Tes. 



" That will be about 13 per acre per annum ? Tes. 



" "Would that take all the trees, or leave a portion remaining? N"o, only 

 the first thinning out. 



" How many thinnings would that plantation admit of year after year ? 

 For years and years to come, because you will find them in all stages of 

 growth. But I calculated that from the first thinning out. 



" And would that yield as much each succeeding year ? It would yield as 

 much each succeeding year. 



" So that you might get 10 tons per acre in each succeeding year? Annually 

 for years to come, if they are judiciously thinned, but not as they are thin- 

 ning (destroying) them in the forest. If they are properly cultivated 

 cultivated for profit. 



" Can you mention any other crop grown in Victoria more profitable than 

 that? No; and it is grown on such poor land, where neither grass nor 

 anything will grow. In Rodney, where I mention, there is not a bit of 

 grass to be seen, and there the wattles come up thick.'' 



At the sewage farm at Islington, near Adelaide, Mr. J. E. Brown planted 

 40 acres in wattles. " The seed was simply soaked in hot water and broad- 

 casted, and the soil afterwards harrowed with a brush harrow; altogether, 

 the whole expense of seed, preparation of the ground, and putting the seed 

 in cost about 15. Four years afterwards the wattles were simply thinned, 

 and the bark of the thinnings realised 25, thus more than refunding the 



