lb'9 



I should like to obtain additional evidence as to the durability of Eiver 

 ^ak when exposed to the weather: 



The Elver Oak, It will be noticed, is of a much paler colour than the Bull 



vjaiv or Belah, and although it has many uses, yet, owing to the limited supply 



rifivt °f "i^'^^ ^^^- ^'^ ^^'^^' landowners who have it growing on their pro- 



WrT +i;^v°K ? ™® '■■"^'' °^ creeks object to it being cut down, as it assists to 



m,iPh i^ftf +-^ together as well as providing a shade. It is, in my opinion, a 



O^hnvnf n V™^'''^' ^^^^ ^'^y °* the oaks I have mentioned. (District Forester 

 usDoine, Cootamundra.) 



■f '!'T,^.-~r^^'^,li^irsest of all Casuarinas. I have seen it probably near 100 

 leet high, and with a trunk diameter of 6 feet, and perhaps more. 



Habitat—Widely distributed over New South Wales along river banks, 

 and m shingle beds. It is found in warm coastal districts, in the cold 

 mountain districts, e.g.. Blue Mountains, Orange, and Xew England, and 

 in the western country beyond Dubbo. It can be readily recognised from 

 the figure, and I ask correspondents to give me specific localities south of 

 the .Shoalhaven River, and west of Dubbo, Narrandera, and Grenfell. It 

 extends to Queensland, Bentham having received it from the Gilbert River, 

 but its range in that State requires to be defined. 



The Bivei- Oak as a Bank Protector. — It is a tree which is readily propa- 

 gated, and it should be faithfully conserved, for besides its value as a stock 

 food in time of drought, it is one of the best trees we have for protecting the 

 friable banks of rivers. The banks had in the course of ages acquired an 

 equilibrium which has been largely destroyed by the white man. He has 

 ruthlessly cut down the Ri\'er Oaks to obtain more ready access to the river 

 frontage, and to enlarge the area of cultivated land, but the latter aim has 

 often been defeated through the consequent falling in of the banks. Per- 

 haps I may at this place be permitted to make quotations from a paper 

 written by me: — 



_The_ paddock is tlie unit in considering the effects of erosion. Jluch of the 

 mischief has already been done, but intelligent conservation of existing and 

 future trees has vast possibilities for good. It ought to be made penal to 

 ringbark up to a certain distance from a watercourse, or to cut down a River 

 Oak on any of the rivers (watercourses), except under a special license only 

 to be obtained after due enquiry. The reason of the suggestions is because 

 improper ringing or felling affects the riparian owner lower down, and he has 

 quite enough difficulties tn contend with which are beyond human control, to 

 be victimised by the ignorant .act of his fellow-man higher up the stream. I 

 could give an instance where a man cut down River Oaks to make culverts; 

 the Eiver Oak timber is now perished, and if he had gone but a few yards 

 away he could have got almost imperishable ironbark. He has now to repair 

 his culvert, but his River Oaks are gone, his banks are falling away where he 

 removed them, and a larger culvert is now required. In the case of a casual 

 labourer this would have been termed living from hand to mouth. In the 

 present instance it is miserable expediency and opportunism unworthy of 

 thinking men. If the results of acts like this would alone affect the doer, we 

 could view the matter with complacency. 



'Natural Bank Protectors. — Let us observe the interlaciug and ramification 

 of the roots of trees in good soil (such as these flats and river banks). It is 

 very extensive, and their mechanical action in arresting washaways is obvious. ■ 

 One can see evidence that the banks of the Upper Hunter streams were much 

 more lined with trees than at present. In man^- parts of the Hunter and its 

 tributaries one sees large River Oaks (many of them past their prime) leaving 

 no descendants to continue their work of bank preservation. The young seed- 

 lings are palatable to stock, and hence they are eaten out if they have free 

 access to them. This points to the necessary precaution that stock should not 

 bave unfettered access to the bed of a stream, as if it were a public highway 



