245 



own kind which absorb the traditions of a line of ancestors, perhaps remote. We are 

 familiar with statements as to the tree of Robin Hood, and other persons niore or less 

 mythical, and even historic ; as to " the oldest tree in the world " (attributed to a certain 

 specimen of Dracaena Draco in Teneriffc), and so on. 



" It is a very iuterestiug iuquiry to know how old arc the stately trees which people these (Southern 

 Tasmania, J.H.M.) forests. Judging from their size, one would be inclined to attribute to them great 

 antiquity. I was very anxious to collect data on the subject ; but to nearly all my inquiries I only received 

 mere guesses; from 200 to 300 years was the general reply. I found, however, in Mr. Hill a source of 

 information at once reliable and valuable. Mr. E. Hill is the proprietor of an extensive sawmill at 

 Honey wood, on the Huon ; he is also a ship-builder and hop-grower. It is from him that I have derived 

 the most of the statistical information in the paper, and the facts which did not come under mv personal 

 observation ; and I take this opportunity of thanking him for his readiness in affording every aid to inquiry, 

 and express the hope that the colony may long profit by his intelligence, industry and enterprise. Mr. 

 Hill assured me that some of the Gum trees, and jjerhaps all of them, shed their bark twice in the year. 

 The Stringyb.'rk (E. ohliqita) is one of the most striking instances of this. He farther informed me that, 

 hearing a lecture from Mr. Bicheno on the growth of trees, and the statement that a ring of wood was added 

 to the diameter each year of growth, he was induced to test the truth of this. There was a Blue Gum 

 {E. ghhuhis, J.H.M.) in his garden in Hobart Town, the age of which he was sure of, as his brother had 

 planted it eighteen years previously. He felled it and counted the rings, and found them to be thirty-six 

 in number, or two for every year. From this, and from the shedding of the bark as described, and a long 

 series of observations, he concludes that the sap rises twice in the year. He has for many years watched 

 the growth of the trees, and he believes that for the first twenty years the average growth is about 1 inch in 

 diameter for each year. Out of thousands of trees felled, or c;it in his mill, he has not found one 

 over 75 years old, and a very large proportion of the serviceable timber is composed of trees about 

 50 years of age. Quite recently he has had a very interesting opportunity of verifying these observations. 

 At Ladies' Bay (between Port Esperance and Southport), a paddock on the farm of Mr. D. Rafton was 

 cleared for the purposes of cultivation. It was exactly sixteen years this summer (1877-78) since a crop 

 was taken oii it, and was quite overgrown with saplings, which were all cut down. Mr. Hill, at mv request, 

 wrote to Mr. Rafton, requesting him to examine the stumps, and I append his reply : — "' Lariies' Bay, 26th 

 April, 1878. According to your request I send you the result of my examination of the stumps of young 

 saplings in the paddock which we are now clearing. Number of rings in the longest saplings, thirty-three ; 

 size across the heart-wood where the rings cease, 1 inch. The rings, I observe, are not an equal distance 

 from each other, some of them being three times the size of the others. On making inquiries I find beyond 

 a doubt that it is exactly sixteen years this summer since the last crop was taken oS the paddock. Yours 

 truly, D. Rafton.' From these facts I think we may safely adopt Mr. Hill's conclusion that there are two 

 rings of growth for each year, and that the tallest trees of the forest, the giant timber of Tasmania, range from 

 50 to 75 years old." (Tenison- Woods, he. cit.) 



Now we come to Howitt, who is speaking of Gippsland :— 



The age of the new forest does not, however, depend merely on the general observation that they 

 have sprung up since the settlement of the country in 1840. 



I have been enabled to make some direct observations, which show the size of certain trees of known 

 age, and which will serve as comparison for the general growth of the forests. 



In 1864 the discovery of auriferous quartz reefs in the Crooked River district, caused a township, 

 which is now called Grant, to be formed on the summit of the mountains, near the source of the Good Luck 

 Creek. In part of the Government reserve, upon which the Warden's quarters and police camp stood, 

 and which was cleared of timber, a few young E. amijgdalina (E. radiata is meant, J.H.M.) trees grew, and 

 were permitted to remain. One of these was lately kindly measured for me by 3Ir. W. H. Morgan, M,M.B., 

 who found it to be 56 feet high and 10 feet in girth three feet above the ground. This tree is an example 

 of very many others of the same species now growing on the surrounding ranges. At Omeo, in the 

 Government reserve, a number of young E. viminalis are now 60 feet high, which in 1S63 were only small 

 saplings under 5 feet in height. On the road from Sale to Port Albert, which was formed somewhere about 

 D 



