FOREST CULTURE 



IN ITS 



EELATIONS TO INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS: 



I»SLIV£ltEI> BY 



Baron Ferd. von Mueller, C.M.G., M.D , Ph.D., F.R.S. 



(Government Botanist for Victoria, and Director of the Botanic Gardens of 

 Melbonme) , 



On the 22d of June, 1871. 



*' The toils of science svidl the wealth of art." 



BoLWEB Tsmo^tfrom Schiller. 



Strange as it may appear, an impression seems to 

 be prevailing in these comnaunities that our forests 

 have to serve no other purposes but to provide wood 

 for our immediate and present wants, be it fuel or 

 timber. For even after the warning of climatic 

 changes, and after the commencing scarcity of wood, 

 no forest administration, at least none adequate or 

 regularly organized, has been initiated in any portion 

 of Australia ; and thus the forests, even in districts 

 already very populous, remain almost unguarded, 

 become extensively reduced, and in some localities 

 are already annihilated ; indeed, the requirements of 

 the current time alone are kept in view. Under such 

 circumstances it cannot be surprising that neither an 



