llii 



Forestry for Tasmania. 



» 



By L. Bodway, Hon Botanist to the 



govbbnment of tasmania, 



[Rsad August 14, 1899.] 



Forestry has never received the atten« 

 tion its importance deserves from either 

 our governing or our scientific bodies, I 

 know that occasionally sundry learned 

 Fellows of this Society have allndod to 

 the subject, and also that our Govern- 

 msnts for a few short years employed 

 conservators, but except in one report of 

 Mr Perrin I do not know of any attempt 

 to seriously contemplate the subject. 

 Certainly it has never taken its proper 

 place as a matter of policy and public 

 utility. 



The policy of past Governments have 

 been confined to a limited attempt to 

 conserve the wealth of our virgin 

 forests. There has been no grasp of 

 what might have been done beyond this. 

 Of the timber industry that could have 

 been built up ; of the enormous advan- 

 tages of conserving the water that falls 

 on the land in the form of rain and dew ; 

 ot the changes in climate, much of 

 which is certain, though much is proble- 

 ma'ical, they appear not to have troubled 

 themselves Even the mild protection 

 of cur native forests reached extinguish- 

 ing point when the importunity of debt 

 and a falling revenue tried the ability of 

 our rulers. The office of Conservator 

 was first curtailed and then abolished. 



'1 he return ef prosperity and unavoid- 

 able enquiry brought to ligbt the 

 disastrous depredations that were taking 

 place in our State f jrests. The Govern- 

 ment have taken a step that will appeal 

 to the sympathy of everyone having the 

 interest of this subject at heart. They 

 have appointed a Crown Lands Baili^, 

 and in doing bo tbey have been fortunate 

 in selecting icum among their officers a 

 man who is eminently fitted by nature 

 and disposition for the position. X refer 

 to Mr Compton Penny. 



This evident recognition of the value of 

 our timber wealth leads one to hope that 

 when evidence can be produced to 

 warrant it still further steps will be 

 taken. It leads one to hope that (he 

 evidence adduced in other countries will 

 be turned to acccunt by us, and steps 



will be taken to at leavt encourage ths 

 plantation and growth of trees where they 

 are badly needed. 



I cannot hope, at least in this paper, to 

 do more than superficially allude to the 

 ganeral benefits forastry may bring us. 

 It would be completely out of place to go 

 into detail". The evidence of benefit is 

 so clear, the experience of observers so 

 conclusive, that what is required is 

 direction to general principles. If 

 general principles are recognised as being 

 of urgent importance the technicalities of 

 procedure will afford no difficulty. 



I propose to roughly discuss the sub- 

 ject under its three principal heads: — 



Timber production 



Water conservation 



Infiaence on climate. 



The subject of timber production 

 naturally falls into two sections — econo- 

 mical use of native forests and the plant- 

 ing of new areas. The first, though it 

 has never received the attention it m'ght, 

 is suffering more from indifference than 

 want of knowledge. We all have 

 a pretty fair notion of what should be 

 done. We know the return they should 

 make to the estate, and we know what 

 should b« done to prevent wanton de- 

 struction and recklefs cutting. Tha 

 economical use of our forests can bo 

 greatly improved, but I do not propose 

 to waste your time in these details. 

 Forest planting, on the other hand, 

 would be something new to us. Kxotic 

 trees have been planted far and wide in 

 Tasmania, and have atmoiit invariably 

 demonstrated their ability to thrive, but 

 they have never been planted, as far as I 

 know, for economical timber produc- 

 tion. 



JNow we must recognise firstly that 

 forests as they grow in a state of nature 

 tieldom produce the mottt economical 

 timber supply. A straight lofty 8t«m 

 wuh no limbs except near the apex is the 

 ideal timber tree, and tl'is state is only 

 to be attained by jadicious planting and 

 tending. With our native trees our 

 forests are so abundant that it 

 is doubtful if it would pay to 

 compete with nature. Several of 

 our fast-growing euca'ypts would 

 in the lifetime of an average man grow 

 large enough to produce good timber, nd 



