40 H. G. SMITH. 
The natural vegetation of this continent represents one 
of its chief assets, and cannot be neglected without detract- 
ing from the general prosperity of the people. Consider- 
able portions of the more settled States of Australia still 
remain available for extended effort in Forestry expansion, 
and in the State of New South Wales, in June 1912, the 
area included in Forest Reserves was 7,600,000 acres, 
although no less than 90,000 acres had been revoked from 
existing Forest Reserves during the year. 
It is not desirable that land eminently suitable for 
agricultural purposes should be withheld from cultivation, 
or retained entirely for forestry purposes, although it is 
possible that by adopting this policy the cultivation of 
some well known economic species of Hucalyptus may be 
largely restricted. There are, however, so many other 
species which furnish timber of excellent quality for con- 
structive works of various kinds, that this is after all a 
matter of minor importance; these species, too, often grow 
well upon soil far too poor to allow of its profitable employ- 
ment in other directions. The land in Australia which is 
covered with Eucalyptus trees is often of indifferent quality, 
and to allow the difficulties of distribution to be overcome, 
Nature devised methods which at present are largely 
hidden from observation, but with which it is desirable 
that we should become better acquainted. Not only does 
this apply to species of particular value as timber trees, 
but also to those species which furnish products of economic 
value for various purposes. 
Such knowledge can only be obtained by determined 
effort and by long continued researches in specialised 
directions. 
To overcome the difficulties inherent to scientific investi- 
gations in Australia of such national importance, it seems 
desirable that scientists should be employed for this specific 
