Canadian Forestry Journal, August, ipi^. 



157 



■extensive areas known variously as 

 "Thorn-veld," "Bush veld" or "Mid- 

 del-veld," in addition to the "Low- 

 veld" of Natal and the Transvaal. 

 Numerous species enter into their 

 <:omposi):ion, but various kinds of 

 Acacias predominate. These trees 

 sometimes reach a moderately large 

 size, sufficient for sawing into tim- 

 ber, but over much of the more 

 accessible areas where they occur, 

 the mature timber has already dis- 

 appeared. Generally speaking, the 

 trees are of small size and slow 

 growth, and their often scattered 

 distribution and the open nature of 

 the forests do not render the latter 

 suitable for economic forest manage- 

 ment. They are, however, an asset 

 of much value for fuel, fence-posts 

 and other local uses, as well as for 

 shelter for stock and protection 

 against soil-erosion. The land on 

 which they are situated has mostly 

 passed into private ownership or is 

 situated within Native Reserves. 

 Unfortunately the value of scrub- 

 forests is often not realised by the 

 owners and the destruction of them 

 has proceeded ruthlessly in the past, 

 and is still continuing to a large ex- 

 tent. 



Scrub Forests. 



In the category of scrub forests 

 should be included the bushy growth 

 found along much of the coast, a 

 good deal of which has been set 

 apart as Government Forest Reser- 

 ves for the prevention of the forma- 

 tion of sand-dunes; and also large 

 areas of forests in the Alexandra and 

 other districts, where the trees, 

 though of the species constituting 

 the dense timber forests, are of 

 dwarf size. 



Data are not available to give even 

 a rough estimate of the total area of 

 the scrub forests. The area of Gov- 

 ernment Forest Reserves classified 

 as scrub forests is roughly 120,000 

 acres. 



Timber forests are found only on 

 the seaward slopes of the mountain 

 ranges within usually less than 100 



miles of the coast, and at widely 

 scattered intervals from the Cape 

 Peninsula in the south-west to the 

 Zoutpansberg Mountains in the 

 north-east. Even on the mountain 

 ranges where they occur, they sel- 

 dom occupy any extensive area con- 

 tinuously, but are almost always 

 found in isolated patches of from a 

 few acres up to a few thousand acres 

 each, in the "kloofs" or ravines. 



Virgin Timber Rare. 



In the Midland Conservancy, Cape 

 Province, the largest more or less 

 continuous areas of forest are found 

 within a strip of country some 110 

 miles long and 10 miles broad, be- 

 tween the Outeniqua Mountains and 

 the sea, extending from George 

 through Knysna to the Humansdorp 

 Division. It has been estimated that 

 roughly 120.000 acres of this country 

 are occupied by forests. These have 

 been heavily exploited during^^the 

 last century or more, and the "vir- 

 gin" timber in them is approaching 

 exhaustion. 



In the Western Conservancy, Cape 

 Province, from George westward to 

 the Cape Peninsula, scarcely any- 

 thing remains of the forests which 

 were once found on the mountains, 

 and which were exploited from the 

 earliest days of white settlement in 

 South Africa. They were allowed to 

 be destroyed by fire, and small 

 patches of forests remain only in the 

 more inaccessible kloofs. 



In the Cedarberg mountains, north 

 of Cape Town, a distinct type of 

 forest occurs, viz. : that of the Clan- 

 william Cedar. This species does 

 not form continuous forest, but the 

 trees grow singly or in small groups, 

 scattered on the rocky slopes and 

 crags. The wood is, perhaps, the 

 best of all South African timbers, 

 being a durable light soft-wood, and 

 the larger trees in all the more acces- 

 sible parts have long disappeared 

 before the axe. Since the area has 

 been made a Forest Reserve, what is 

 possible has been done to protect it 

 from fire and to assist regeneration. 



