248 



E. viminalis Labill.- 



The young tree that I selected in January, 1885, was one of a cluster of four, close to the jetty 

 (Lake George) on which the lake gauge is placed, and it was found to measure 23 inches round, 3 feet from 

 the ground; it was measured again on the 10th November, 1891, and found to be at 3 feet from the 

 ground 52J inches round, almost exactly 17 inches in diameter, that is, an increase from 7 to 17 inches 

 in diameter in six years and eight months, a rate of increase which, if maintained for five years more, would 

 make it a large tree upwards of 2 feet in diameter and only 20 years old. 



As to the age of the tree measured at Lake George, it was growing about 4| or 5 feet within the 

 high- water mark of the great flood of 1874, within which all the trees were killed, the residents when appealed 

 to, said the four trees could not be more than seven or eight years old, which agrees with jsrobabilities as 

 to their age, for they would not spring up until a year or two after the water retired, and it did not leave 

 the spot they grew on until 1875, ten years before I was there. Taking then eight years as their probable 

 age in February, 1885, they would now be almost 15 years old, and the tree measured is now 4 feet 

 i^ inches round, 3 feet above the ground. Therefore at fifteen years the Lake George tree measured 

 52-2" inches. The probable age at this measure was fourteen years eight and a half months ; if allowance for 

 three and a half months is made to bring the age up to fifteen full years, it would measure 53| inches 

 round; on 22nd November, 1892, girth 54^- inches; 1st January, 1894, girth GO^^- inches; Januarv, 1895, 

 girth 63J inches. (Russell, loc. cit.) 



Following is a report on some Victorian viminalis trees : — 



Seed sown Januar}-, 1912; seedling planted out August, 1912. In December, 

 1916, this became 25 feet bigb, and 9 inches in diameter. First sign of flower-buds 

 November, 1915. Flowers annually in November; shed its bark for first time in 

 December, 1916. In full bloom 25th January, 1917. (P. E. H. St. John, in Vict. 

 Nat., February, 1917, p. 155.) 



B. — Natural Afforestation. 



Following is a valuable contribution to the Question of the mfluence of settlement 

 on Eucalyptus Forests, by the late Dr. A. W. Howitt : — 



The influence of settlement upon the Eucalyptus forests has not been confined to the settlements 

 upon lands devoted now to agriculture or pasturage, or by the earlier occuj)ation by a mining population. 

 It dates from the very day when the first hardy pioneers drove their flocks and herds down the mountains 

 from New South Wales into the rich pastures of Gippsland. 



Before this time the graminivorous marsupials had been so few in comparative number that they 

 could not materially afiect the annual crop of grass which covered the country, and which was more or less 

 burnt ofi by the aborigines, either accidentally or intentionally, when travelling, or for the purj)ose of 

 hunting game. 



Annual Bush Fires. — These aimual bush fires tended to keep the forests open, and to prevent 

 the open country from being overgrown, for they not only consumed much of the standing or fallen tiruber, 

 but in a great measure destroyed the seedlings which had sprung up since former conflagrations. The 

 influence of these bush fires acted, however, in another direction, namely, as a check upon insect life, 

 destroying, among others, those insects which prey upon the Eucalypts. 



Granted these premises, it is easy to conclude that any cause which would lessen the force of the 

 annual bush fires would very materially alter the balance of nature, and thus produce new and unexpected 

 results. 



The increasing number of sheep and cattle in Gippsland, and the extended settlement of the district, 

 lessened the annual crop of grass, and it was to the interest of the settlers to lessen and keep within bounds 

 bush fires which might otherwise be very de.structive to their improvements. 



