CHAPTER IV. 



The Cormnercial Value of Trees as a Crop- 



I THINK this is a subject, the full importance of which has not yet 

 been properly recognised by the public of South Australia. Hitherto 

 the natural forests of the colony have been sufficient to supply the 

 ordinary wants of the settlement of the land, and so little a value has 

 generally been put upon the timber, that, very naturally, trees were 

 looked upon very much as hindrances to location, which it would be 

 better were the land free of them. This has always been the case in 

 newly settled countries, and there has been no exception to the rule 

 here. Now, however, that the natural forests are gradually disappearing, 

 and — both from the increased population and larger requirements of the 

 people generally — the demand for timber is increasing, the true value 

 of trees as a crop is being realised. Of course, as with every other 

 commodity, so it is with this one, the demand for it constitutes its 

 commercial value ; so that it is evident if we can show that trees 

 are a good marketable article in these days, how much more valuable will 

 they be ten or fifteen years hence, when our population will be double 

 what it is now, and our indigenous forest land still further reduced in area. 



We have seen iu these chapters that the cultivation of trees is neces- 

 sary to our prosperity as a nation. We require timber for the construction 

 of our houses, fences, implements, and furniture ; trees are necessary to the 

 proper regulating of our clim.ate ; they improve our soil and give shelter 

 to crops and stock ; they are necessary for the supply of those timbers 

 which we require for the carrying out of our extensive system of rail- 

 ways, jetties, and other grand public works. And besides all these 

 important requirements of civilised life, trees supply us with fruits, wines, 

 oils, and other luxuries. Again, what would our landscape be without 

 them ? We know how bare and dreary-looking some parts of our country 

 appear, simply from the entire want of trees upon them. In an ornamental 

 point of view, then, trees are a necessity of our Hfe ; they instruct the 

 mind in the work of the Creator, and they elevate the soul to things noble 

 and cultivated. Indeed, as I have remarked in this work, trees have a 

 wonderfully refining influence about human nature, to such an extent 

 tha,t by our cultivation of trees, so I think, may our social standard be 

 estimated. 



Now, however, I propose to show, in a very brief manner, how desirable 

 it is to cultivate trees in these colonies in the light of a crop only upon 



