14 
valuable timber trees of the coniferous order. On Mr. Corduke's 
estate, at the Settlement of York, there are many hundreds, if not 
thousands, of indigenous and exotic trees yielding valuable 
timber. 
The exertions, later on, of Messrs. DIPS Blackbarrow, Topham, 
Wilkinson, Todd, Risley, Pepworth, Smith, Baynes, Sutton, 
Henderson, and many others, in the pae aia of forest plantations, 
si resulted in the occupation of tracts of land with forest 
wth far in excess of the denudation, or deforestation, of natural 
steals caused by the demand for timber for purposes of Colonial 
industry. The artificial forests thus created have great advantage 
in their greater accessibily than the natural forests, the latter, as 
a rule, being on dee, ss mountain slopes, with a West or Sout 
Western exposure. The growth, also, of timber in the planted 
forests is considerably in excess of that in the natur al. One acre 
of land, suitable for the gums or wattles will,in ten years, yield 
elose upon two hundred tons of timber. In little more than half 
the same period Pinus insignis has been known to attain a 
diameter at the butt of fully a foot, and a height of 50 feet. 
Gums and Acacias, with a little care at the outset, have been 
known to drain most thoroughly swamp land, the only mode 
of escape for the lodgment of water c Ens the foliage of the 
plantation. 
Several professional nurserymen are in full employees near 
the City of Pietermaritzburg, at elevations of 2000 to 3000 feet 
above the sea level. The tree and plant lists produced by these 
s growth. Moreover, the Botanic Society of 
Pietermaritzburg, and its grounds near the City, may take rank 
in the growth and diffusion of highly useful and ornamental 
trees. 
With the exception of the experimental efforts applied in the 
Gardens at Durban, all that has hitherto been done has been 
directly gels as supplying a great Be necessity. No doubt 
many will n begin to ramify into rese Roche: when there will 
be no little bad of doubt, and, perhaps, loss. Already consider- 
able advance has been made in tea plantations, [Introduced from 
ew. See Kew Bulletin, 1887, September, p. 12] which have 
succeeded in producing a good and marketable article, Acum 
standing that our climate does not bear comparison with that 
of China or India. That the ee which should be taken 
in Botanical Enterprise in this Colony is not what it should be, 
for the benefit of Colonists themselves, there is no room for 
doubt, but, at the same time, there is proof of some interest in the 
operations of the several nurserymen now fairly established in 
the Colony, and in the annual reports of the Botanic Societies of 
Durban and Pieterm aritzburg, of the Horticultural Society of 
Pietermaritzburg, and of various Agricultural Societies throughout 
the Colony, all of which are liberally subsidised by grants from 
the Colonial exon Ms and maintained by the contributions of 
individual members. No small share of interest has bsen shown 
in Botanical een in the enactment of rigorous — and the 
une of Proclamations from time to time, when there danger 
of the introduction of diseases, by means of imported ecd which 
might severely affect the prospects of the planters, | 
