26 



Eichardson at from =4 to ,15 per acre. After ring-barking from 

 2 10s. to 8 per acre. 



GREAT SOUTHERN RAILWAY DISTRICT. 



Varieties of Trees. "White gum, York gum, jarrah, jam, 

 sheaoak, stinkwood, manna gum, flooded gum, red gum, yate, 

 salmon gum, Parker's gum or morrell, mallet or fluted gum. 



Method and time of destruction. In three of the returns 

 sapping is recommended for all the trees mentioned above with 

 the exception of the salmon gum, which one correspondent advises 

 should be ring-barked. York gum and flooded gum are liable to 

 throw up suckers, it is said, in another return. " Sap ringing is 

 desirable in each case for immediate results, but ring-barking is 

 preferable if one can afford to wait the results for say four years." 

 Wagin- Arthur Farmers' Alliance. The Ka tanning Farmers' 

 Association advocates destroying the white gum and jarrah either 

 by ring-barking or burning around the butts; and ring-barking, 

 jam, sheaoak, and manna gum, and sapping York and flooded gums. 

 Stinkwood if cut down dies out. York gum and jam should be 

 rung when the sap is well up. The bark will then fall off every 

 limb and the roots can be burnt right out. Flooded guin is very 

 difficult to kill. Firing round the trunk in the month of March 

 very often has the desired effect. Two correspondents state their 

 experience has shown that ring-barking and sapping may be 

 carried on all the year round with successful results if the work is 

 properly performed. The Wagin-Arthur Farmers' Alliance 

 advises that the work should be done during December, January, 

 and February, while the Katanning Farmers' Association advocates 

 ring-barking or sapping, as the case may be, in September and 

 October, for all trees except manna gum ; the period for this variety 

 being extended from September to March. Sheaoak may be treated 

 at any time. 



Effect of the destruction of timber on the water supply and growth 

 of grasses. All the correspondents are of the unanimous opinion 

 that the destruction of the timber improves very materially both 

 the water supply and the stock-carrying capacity of the land. The 

 Katanning Farmers' Association, however, makes a reservation in 

 favour of the retention of jam trees " Jam is the only tree which 

 does not injure the grass to any extent. When all the trees are 

 destroyed, the sun has more power over the grasses, which quickly 

 dry up. In the middle of the summer, the grass is often found to 

 be green and succulent under the shade of the jam trees when it is 

 dried up elsewhere. . . . Stock eat the leaves of the stinkwood 

 and young sheaoak s." 



Cost per acre of ring-barking or sapping. In two returns from 

 the Wagin district the cost of sapping is put down at Is. less per 

 acre than that of ring-barking : the prices being 2s. to 3s. per acre 

 respectively. In the other returns, the cost of ring-barking is from 

 9d. to Is. 6d. per acre, and of sapping from Is. 9d. to 2s. per acre. 



