184 A. G. HAMILTON. 
when split enabling fences to be rapidly erected, as they can be 
split in such great lengths. And as they decay quickly and are 
replaced again and again, the trees are gradually becoming fewer. 
This applies more particularly to the Bangalow, which is now 
very rare in the Illawarra district. 
Tree-ferns too, do not escape, their trunks being exported largely 
to Europe and to America for gardening and for ornamental 
pedestals, etc. The loss to the native flora in the palms and ferns 
is perhaps more irreparable than that of other trees on account of 
their slow growth. Indeed it is to be feared that another half 
century will see them extinct except in those ravines which are 
inaccessible to timber-getter’s teams. 
The indiscriminate ravages of bark-strippers among the wattle- 
trees is another instance of injury to the indigenous vegetation. 
In their greed for large returns, the strippers spared neither large 
nor small trees, and in consequence the wattle-bark industry is 
now defunct in many districts once famed for a large output of 
bark. This is to some extent being remedied by the enlightened 
policy of the State Forests Conservancy Branch, and a few years 
will see a steady inflow of revenue from the wattle plantations 
established in many districts. 
At present the value of the timber of the majority of the Aus- 
tralian trees is unknown, but experiments are being made to 
determine it, and we may expect that when their qualities are 
discovered, large numbers of others will be drawn upon, and as 
time goes on, only those of little use for fuel and timber will 
escape. It is therefore manifestly a wise policy to establish State 
nurseries, as has already been done at Gosford, for rearing valu- 
able trees and distributing them to suitable localities, and the 
proclamation of extensive forest reserves is another safe-guard 
against the extinction of our most valued trees. : 
What cultivation does for a native flora may be summed up in 
the following quotations from Professor Moseley: “The island of 
St. Thomas itself, as well as its outliers, is covered with a wild 
s 
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