THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



637 



The following replies to Mr. Thorrold's 

 enquiries are supplied by the Government 

 Entomologist : — 



(a) The treatment of the vines with 

 sulphate of iron and sulphuric acid solu- 

 tion must be delayed until next winter, 

 but the vines may now be treated with 

 Bordeaux Mixture, prepared accoi-ding to 

 instructions given upon p. 29 of my re- 

 port, a copy of which has been posted to 

 Mr. Thorrold. Should the preparation of 

 this mixture prove too irksome, I would 



recommend fortnightly sprayings with 

 " Strawsonite." Packets, price 6d., may 

 be purchased from P. Henwood, Soutter 

 & Co., Durban and Pietermaritzburg, 

 one packet being sufficient for 2-3 gallons 

 of water. 



(d) This practice will do no harm. 



(c) Yes, certainly. Any formula given 

 for the destruction of insect and fungus 

 pests can be proportionately increased or 

 decreased. 



r orestrym 



WILL FOREST CULTURE PAY IN QUEENSLAND? 



IN our notes on Forest Conservancy we 

 mentioned (says the " Queensland 

 Agricultural Journal ") the case of a 

 natural growth of young blue gums 

 (Eucalyptus tereticornis) springing from 

 seed which had been scattered over the 

 ground by the felling of several large 

 trees in seed. The young saplings grew 

 up straight as arrows, and the grove only 

 required thinniu^ out at proper times to 

 have established a splendid stand of 

 timber for the future. 



As this occurred in the year 1864, it 

 will be understood that had these trees 

 been allowed to grow to the present day 

 they would have been nearly tlairty-seven 

 years old, and by judicious cutting and 

 replanting we should have now possessed 

 a crop from which a good annual income 

 would have resulted. A correspondent, 

 Mr. J. T. Pentzcke, of the Daintree, writes 

 of a similar experience. He commences 

 by putting the question — "Will forest 

 culture pay the farmer ? " This would 

 depend greatly on the system of forestry 

 adopted, and also to a large extent on the 

 concessions in the way of long leases made 

 by the State Government to men who 

 would honestly undertake to take the 

 matter up and carry it out in such a 

 manner as to make the work a revenue- 

 producing one for future generations. 



Before the scrub lands on the Daintree 

 were open for selection, the pioneer cedar- 

 getters had already sent many shiploads 

 of valuable cedar to the South. The only 

 site for a sawmill was a low-lying, ti-tree, 

 and mangrove swamp. The hardy pion- 



eers had only a small piece of camping 

 ground, where they suffered much from 

 feyer and ague. Mr. Pentzcke took up 

 some land in the scrub adjoining Mr. 

 Freshney's selection, and cleared about 

 4 acres, leaving two cedar trees standing 



i in the clearing, and carefully protecting 



' them from fire when burning' off. When 

 the crops of maize, bananas, sweet pota- 



' toes, &c , were well grown in October and 

 November, the winged seed of those 



j cedars began to scatter broadcast over 

 the land, and lay thickly about on the 

 pumpkin leaves. These germinated under 

 the shelter of the crops, and, after the 

 wet season was over, he destroyed more 

 than a thousand young cedar plants in 

 clearing up the ground, besides a quantity 

 of undergrowth, which is needed by the 

 young trees to enable them to grow tall 

 and slender whilst making their " height 

 growth," a most important period for the 

 silviculturist. The plants, being thus 

 sheltered, do not become bushy, but draw 

 up till they top the scrul) and then com- 

 mence to make lateral growth and spread- 

 ing tops. Had he left the cedar and 

 undergrowth alone, these would to-day 

 h ive been a nice patch of tall valuable 

 timber which in fifteen years' time from 

 now would have been fit to harvest, as 

 he has lobserved that the cedar on the 

 Daintree increases by 3 inches in girth 

 per annum. There are, besides cedar, 

 many other valuable timbers in the scrubs, 

 and others might be planted. Some of 

 the native timbers there are of exquisite 

 beauty and of great commercial value, 



