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Effect of the destruction of tke trees upon the water supply and 

 growth of native grasses. There is an unanimous opinion expressed 

 that a most marked increase takes place in both the water supply 

 and the number and vitality of the native grasses that spring up 

 after the trees have been destroyed. 



Cost per acre of 'ring-barking or sapping. From Is. 3d. to 

 2s. 6d. per acre are the prices given for ring-barking, and Is. 7d. to 

 2s. 6d. for sapping. The York branch puts down the first cost of 

 sapping at Is. 3d. to Is. 9cl. per acre, and second cost 4-d. to 6d. per 

 acre for killing suckers. 



Cost per acre of clearing before and after the destruction of the 

 trees. The cost of clearing for the plough after the country has 

 been ring-barked from two to three years, is in all cases estimated 

 at half that of clearing prior to ring-barking. The average cost of 

 clearing when the trees are green is, for the district, 2 15s. per 

 acre, and half this sum per acre when the trees are dead. 



NORTHAM DISTRICT. 



Varieties of Trees. York gum, jam, morrell, white gum, gimlet 

 wood, salmon gum, manna gum, wattles, sheaoaks, flooded gum. 



Method and time of destruction. Mr. Gregory advises ringing 

 salmon and flooded gums, sheaoak, and jam, and sapping white and 

 York gums. This, in the main, is also the advice of the Irishtown 

 branch, while Mr. Throssell advises sapping all the trees except the 

 jam, which should be rung. Mr. Dempster furnishes an interest- 

 ing note on the destruction of the York gum. He writes : " All 

 trees or scrub can be killed at once by sap-ringing, but the York 

 gums throw out shoots for years after the top of the tree has been 

 killed, and the cost of keeping under the suckers is more than that 

 of ringing in the first instance. I have not yet met anyone who can 

 speak positively as to the best time of the year for ringing these 

 trees. Occasionally some die, and give no further trouble, but as a 

 rule they will not, under the present system. Killing the tree slowly 

 by barking, I think, is the most effectual. I have an idea, supported 

 by facts, that goes to prove that by killing the tree slowly the 

 strength returns to the soil, for the best results I have ever seen 

 from ringing have been by the slow progress." 



Mr. Dempster and Mr. Throssell have apparently succeeded in 

 killing the other trees by either ring-barking or sapping all the year 

 round, but they both evidently incline to doing the work in the 

 summer. The former says : " I rather think that the summer ring- 

 barking is best for York gums and large trees of the same class." 

 Mr. Throssell writes : " I have not arrived at any conclusion, as I 

 have succeeded in the matter of effectually killing the gums by 

 ring-barking during all the months of the year. I prefer summer 

 for either sapping or ring-barking. In the latter the process is 

 slower, but more effective." The Irishtown branch advise that the 

 work should be done between November and March, while Mr. 

 Gregory favours January and February for York and white gums, 

 and September and October for the others. 



