﻿AN" ECONOMIC STUDY OF ACACIAS. 19 



(3) Acacia pycnantha, 100-acrc basis, sowed broadcast and thinned 

 to 1,200 trees to the acre; land rented at 8 cents an acre a year, under 

 I he provisions of the wattle-culture act passed in Victoria Colony 

 in 1889: 



A^regate sales of bark, first 7 years, 642 tons $23, 120 



Abrogate expenditure, first 7 years, including interest 7, 360 



Profit 15, 760 



While these estimates differ considerably, based as they are upon 

 various crop prices, land values, production costs, and yields, they 

 are still suggestive. In fact, the only point in common between' the 

 three plantations was that in each case there was good preparation 

 of the soil and careful cultivation. 



The Queensland Agricultural Journal recently reported that in 

 Auckland, New Zealand, an otherwise useless tract of land of about 

 4,500 acres planted to Acacia decurrens gave the following results: 



Aggregate sales of bark, per acre, first 8 years $142 



Aggregate expenses, per acre, first 8 years -. 70 



Profit (not including 5 cents per acre per year, and not including inter f 

 est) 72 



In South Australia, on the unproductive "fern hills" of white sand 

 and on dry limestone ridges, acacias grow well. Such land can be 

 rented at less than 4 cents per acre a year, and ought to yield from 

 $70 to $80 per acre at the end of 8 or 9 years. Better soils will give 

 proportionately better yields, but the striking thing about the New 

 Zealand and Australian reports is the unanimity of opinion as to the 

 value of wattles upon poor soils. 



SOUTH AFRICA. 



Thirty years' experience with tanbark wattles in Cape Colony, 

 Natal, and other places in South Africa has been quite as interesting 

 as the experience with sand-binding acacias. 



Originally introducing Acacia saligna for tanbark, Cape Colony 

 made strenuous efforts to plant large areas. In some districts mate- 

 rial was needed for huts, fences, and fuel, and this made a demand for 

 small stuff which would grow rapidly. This demand led to the plant- 

 ing, in some instances, of as many as 20,000 acacias to the acre, the 

 plantations being thinned out at the end of the fourth year and the 

 wood and bark of the trees removed in thinning being sold. In some 

 plantations trees were set in rows 4 feet apart or alternated with 

 cluster pines. By 1890 about 150 tons of bark were marketed, and 

 in 1891 nearly 2,500 tons, partly from government forests and partly 

 from trees belonging to settlers. 



As soon as the superiority of other tanbark species was recognized, 

 Acacia saligna was dropped and better species planted on an exten- 



