TREE CULTUKE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 15 



the land, and purely with, reference to the commercial value of the 

 transaction, without reference to any of the other matters just mentioned. 



The value of wood as a crop depends of course very much at all times 

 upon local demands, and the situation of the plantation with reference to 

 convenience of carriage to other markets. The larger the population, 

 the more thriving the trade of the district, and the nearer to railway 

 or water carriage, the higher will be the price realised from the sale of 

 timber in proportion. • This is the case all the world over, and the 

 peculiarities of this country form no exception to the rule. 



In Britain, trees are now considered by her landed proprietors as one 

 of the most paying of all crops ; and land not otherwise suited for tillage 

 purposes is on all hands being put under the occupation of plantations. 

 It is positively asserted by an authority on forestry in Britain " that 

 land which is from various causes unfit for high farming, will, under 

 wood, at the end of seventy years, under good management, pay the 

 proprietor 7iearly three times the sum of money that he would have re- 

 ceived from any other crop upon the same piece of ground." 



On land under woods in Europe,. with an agricultural value or yearly 

 rental of from 4s. to 10s. per acre, it is quite an ordinary thing to receive 

 from 20s. to 30s. per acre annually from the thinnings of the trees alone ; 

 and when the crop of trees is matured, to receive from £200 to £500 per 

 acre for it. This is of course where the best of management is applied 

 to the crops, and timber of a valuable character is grown upon the sites. 



It is true that trees as a crop are longer in being realised than any 

 other crop which may be put upon land ; but while they enhance the value 

 of the property for the time being, a much larger amount of money is 

 realised from them in the end. 



Now, the question which is of special interest to my readers in connec- 

 tion with this subject is " Does it pay to occupy land with trees in South 

 Australia?" My answer is, undoubtedly it does, and to a much greater 

 extent than it pays in Europe. How I arrive at this conclusion I wiU 

 now endeavour to show. 



Trees come to matuiity, or at least to saleable size, in this country in 

 about half the time which it takes the same kinds of trees to arrive at 

 the same stage in Europe ; and as the yearly rent value of land here is 

 much less than at home, we have thus a much less amount of rental to 

 put on the debit side of our plantation accounts. For instance, we will 

 suppose that 100 acres of land are about to be planted in Britain whose 

 agricultural capabilities are worth, say, 15s. per acre of yearly rental. 

 Then, assuming that the trees take 80 years to arrive at maturitj', there 

 would thus be a sum of £60 (80 x 15) which would require to be debited 

 to the cl:op of timber, because this amount could have been got from the 

 land for ordinary agricultural purposes. Then again, in order to arrive 

 at our comparison, we will assume that 100 acres of about the same 

 quality of land are about to be put under a crop of trees in this colony. 

 The rental value of this per acre we wUl take at 3s. ; and supposing 

 that the trees arrive at maturity here in 40 years, this would give us 

 £6 only as the sum which would have to be deducted from the proceeds 

 of the sale of the timber for the occupation of the land. 



