RELATIONSHIP OF THE STATE TO THE FORESTS. 209 



312,000 acres are under wattle, of which about 240,000 acres are 

 in Natal. Large quantities of this tanning bark are exported 

 either chopped up or as an extract ; 62,000 tons in 1919. 



(2) Buchu, used for medicinal purposes, consists of the dried 

 leaves of several species of Barosma, shrubs which grow on the 

 mountains in the south-west of Cape Colony. The most valuable 

 kind is B. betuUna. Export in 1919 amounted to 67 tons. 



4. Relationship of the State to the Forests. 



Legislation. — The existing forest legislation is contained in the 

 Union Forest Act, No. 16 of 1913 and its amending Act, No. 14 

 of 1917. The former Act was designed to consoHdate and amend 

 the forest laws previously in force in the four provinces of the 

 Union and relates to forest tenure, forest demarcation, the 

 regulation and protection of forests, etc. There are demarcated 

 and undemarcated reserves. Demarcated reserves cannot be 

 alienated except with the consent of both houses of Parliament. 

 The Act gives the power of expropriation for forestry purposes 

 and provides that no new rights can spring up by prescription in 

 forest estates. Private proprietors can have all or any of the 

 provisions of the Act applied to their forests. The Act also 

 provides for hunting and fishing in forests. Act No. 14 of 1917 

 merely strengthens the principal Act in respect of demarcations 

 undertaken before 1913. 



Administrative Methods. — (a) Fire Protection. — Clean fire traces 

 are maintained around indigenous and artificial woods, and these 

 are periodically ploughed up, hoed, or burnt off. The planting of 

 Acacias around the areas has not been found as effective as 

 maintaining clear traces. Owing to the evergreen character of 

 the indigenous forests and the moist condition usually associated 

 with the forest floor, internal fires are very rare. In plantations 

 however, in addition to external traces, internal belts are either 

 left unplanted and kept clear, or planted with less inflammable 

 species, such as belts or lines of Eucalyptus in pines, the litter 

 being swept up over 5 feet on either side of the belts. The forests 

 and plantations are regularly patrolled. 



(b) Regeneration of Natural Forests. — The indigenous forests are 

 worked on the selection system. In some of them, especially in 

 the east, natural regeneration is very deficient, but in others, as 



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