?4 FOREST CtJL*UfiM ANiJ 



and Central America an article of great scarcity, and, 

 therefore, this important tree should be copiously 

 planted in the forests of tropical Australia. In the 

 earlier part of this century the supply of Saul timber 

 of Lower India (Shorea robusta) was thought inex- 

 haustible ; but now, already, this heavy and durable 

 wood is hardly any longer procurable for ship-build- 

 ,ing and engineering work, for which it is so much 

 sought. The axes of the woodmen will also soon make 

 such an inroad into the comparatively limited Yarrah 

 forests of West Australia that also this timber, which 

 for salt-water works is almost incomparable, will cease 

 to be available long before a new and sufficient supply 

 can be raised by regular culture. 



The Land Commissioner of the United States fur- 

 ther reports, in 1868, that the frequent excessive 

 droughts, and the occasional destructive inundations 

 experienced a quarter of a century ago in Iowa, Kan- 

 sas, and Nebraska, have much diminished since the 

 regular settlement brought tree plantations and other 

 cultures into the extensive treeless prairies. Iowa 

 planted, in 1867, about seventy - six square miles of 

 forest, and one thousand eight hundred and eighty 

 four miles length of hedges. On the other hand, it is 

 estimated already, in 1864, by Mr. P. T. Thomas, of 

 New York, that the whole regions east of the Missis- 

 sippi would be stripped of all really useful timber with- 

 in twenty or thirty years ; while even for fuel great 

 inroads are constantly made into the American for- 

 ests, coal not being everywhere accessible in the States. 

 The Hon. T. M. Edmonds (^Report of the Department 

 of Agriculture of U. iS. for 1868) foresees the exhaus- 

 tion of the timber resources of the United States in 



