CHAPTER XXI. 



WcbiMe Growing- 



The several industries which are intimately connected with the bark 

 question here — such as those of the growers of the raw material, the 

 strippers, tanners, fellmongers, leather exporters, and others, with their 

 various collateral dependencies, form such an array of important and 

 minor branches of political economy, that it is obvious the subject of 

 a regular and permanent supply of bark is a matter which deserves 

 the best attention of our legislators. Not only should it be seen that 

 the supply at present required shall be kept up without any falling off, 

 but also that the best endeavours be made in order that the several 

 industries named are developed and increased in the colony. 



The stripping of wattle-bark has been a common source of livelihood 

 to many ever since the foundation of the colony, but of late years this 

 industry has sensibly decreased, from the fact that the country is being 

 gradually taken up for settlement, whereby the forests of wattles are being 

 elowly but surely diminished in extent, and those left are stripped of 

 young trees to such an extent that the proper reproduction of the crop 

 is hindered. The annual output of bark is consequently diminished. 

 As the country gets further settled and put under cultivation or stock, 

 the supply is sure to suffer still more, and if nothing be done towards 

 cultivating the wattle, it may eventually decline to such an extent as 

 effectually to damage the industries in our midst connected with the 

 bark, as well as, of course, diminish its export from the colony. 



Very few large fields of wattles are now to be seen in the colony, 

 «xcept on the Waste Lands of the Crown and on a few of the largest of 

 our landed properties. The Forest Board is now taking active steps 

 towards the conservation of existing wattles, and the rearing of these in 

 special plantations where the soil and situation are not entirely suitable 

 for the growth of timber trees. 



We are of course aware that wattles spring up spontaneously in 

 different parts of the colony ; and while admitting the value of this to 

 the country, and at the same time recognising the fact that by this means 

 a crop of this tree can generally be got simply by protection from stock, 

 we must also admit the fact that crops of this kind are somewhat 

 uncertain, and that there are places where the wattle does not grow 

 naturally which might be put under a profitable plantation of the tree by 

 artificial means. It is not too much to say, that on almost every farm in 

 the country there are one or more spots on which wattles might be 



