FORESTRY. 13 



areas of sand which mark the extreme southern point of the African 

 Continent. Morram grass has been planted successfully further 

 east at " Still " Bay, but this, so far, is the limit of its successful 

 growth. At Port Elizabeth, where are the largest sand-drift fixing 

 operations, Morram grass has been found not to succeed : and it is 

 necessary there to proceed by the more expensive process of covering 

 the sands with town refuse, conveyed on to the sands by a special 

 line of railway. After the sand has been temporarily fixed with 

 town refuse, it is sown with seeds of various sand-fixing vegetation, 

 and the Wattles Acacia cyclopis and A. saligna. 



The Cape Budget for the Financial Year 1903-1904 showed a 

 total expenditure of 31,500 on the Forest Staff and 60,000 on 

 Forest work. Owing to the present financial crisis the total forest 

 expenditure has been cut down to 50,000, viz., 30,000 Staff and 

 20,000 work. 



FORESTRY IN NATAL. 



Natal has been called the " Garden Colony " of South Africa. 

 The part of the Colony from which it derives this name is the central, 

 well- watered portion traversed by the belt of Yellowwood forest. 

 In the southern portion of this belt is situated some of the finest 

 of the indigenous Yellowwood forest. About many of the home- 

 steads in or near this belt have been planted introduced trees which 

 are growing with a vigour -unsurpassed elsewhere in South Africa. 



Natal has a large native population (about seventeen blacks to 

 one white) and as the natives were settled in Natal they were un- 

 fortunately given destructive forest rights. These forest rights 

 and the settlement of the country produced a deplorable destruction 

 of its rich forests. In 1886 the services of a Cape Forest Officer, 

 Mr. H. G. Fourcade, were obtained, who, after a tour through the 

 country, submitted an able report (Maritzburg, 1887), which may 

 be read to-day with the utmost interest. Unfortunately, Natal 

 was at that time a Crown Colony, and practically nothing was done 

 to give effect to Mr. Fourcade's recommendations, or to those of 

 his successor, an eminent young German Forest Officer, Herr 

 Schopflin. At last, in 1901, when the Colony was managing its 

 own affairs, Forestry was again taken up. Mr. J. S. Lister, Con- 

 servator of Forests in the Eastern Districts of Cape Colony, was 

 deputed to visit and report on the forests, and at his recommenda- 

 tion the present Conservator, Mr. T. R. Sim, was appointed in 1902 ; 

 and Forestry in Natal is now organised on much the same footing 

 as in Cape Colony and other South African States. Mr. Sim's 

 preliminary report for 1902 and his last report dated June, 1904, 

 are interesting documents, and show what is being done in Natal to 

 make up for the long years of forestal neglect. It is a sad tale of 

 waste and ruin ! 



The Conservator of Forests has his headquarters at Maritzburg,. 

 and is assisted by a European staff of thirty permanent Forest 

 officials and five apprentices. The Natal Forest Staff now 



