for the year 1877. xxiii 



and to re-forest, as far as possible, our stripped mountain 

 sides, not only with indigenous, but exotic timber and other 

 useful trees. The State nurseries at Mount Macedon are 

 making wonderful progress; valuable trees to replace the 

 indigenous giants which have been so indiscriminately felled 

 are now covering a large part of the summit of that moun- 

 tain. Thousands of plants are yearly raised in the nursery 

 for this purpose and for distribution over the country to 

 local bodies. It is a noteworthy fact that numbers of the 

 European and American timber trees are being successfully 

 grown here, and many of them make more rapid growth 

 than they were ever known to do in the countries to which 

 they belong. It is intended also to sow many of our 

 wrecked forest areas broadcast with the seeds of indigenous 

 trees, notably the itonbark, and this process will also be 

 tried on some of the treeless plains to the north — of 

 course, after some preparation of the ground and adop- 

 tion of some means for protecting the young trees as they 

 come up. 



The establishment of Colleges and Schools of Agriculture 

 and Forestry would be a step in the right direction, the 

 value of which to posterity, if not to our own generation, 

 cannot be well over-estimated in a country in which the 

 ruling policy is to fix the people on the soil. Already the 

 Agricultural Department has taken prehminary steps for the 

 establishment of a college in embryo at South Dookie, in 

 the north-east district. It is intended to confine the opera- 

 tions this year to conducting experiments on plants likely 

 to be adapted for cultivation in Victoria, and the establish- 

 ment of an Agricultural Chemical Laboratory in connection 

 with the institution. It is only expected to establish the 

 college by degrees, but I am sure the success of the Secre-^ 

 tary for Agriculture in this and his other efforts wiU be 

 sincerely hoped for by every member of this Society. 



