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president's address. 
a fancy to ironbark, could we supply their wants ? The number 
required to fit up all the lines would be — say, 540 millions, so that 
we should only have a third of that quantity, neglecting our own 
requirements. England and Europe, too, possess an enormous 
mileage, and might come upon us for supplies ; but, as is seen, we 
simply could not meet them. Then what right have we to talk 
about encouraging a large export trade until we take steps to 
increase the natural productiveness of our forests i 
In another State Report of the United States Department of 
Agriculture — namely, that on the " Forest Conditions of the 
Rocky Mountains, 1889 " — there is a paper by Dr. E J. Janus, 
which is remarkable as bearing upon the question of the value of 
forest culture which is so much neglected or ignored. It is 
scarcely necessary to remark that the Rocky Mountains are the 
home of some of the principal mining industries in the United 
States, and are in the centre of an arid region which, except for 
the streams arising from the melting of the snow on the heights, 
has little water to depend upon. Therefore, Dr. Janus' observa- 
tions, which are made with special reference to this region, are 
particularly worth attention : — 
" The forests of any large country bear a peculiar relation to 
material prosperity. They not only constitute a large proportion 
of the national wealth of a nation, but they form the independent 
basis of a flourishing agricultural, manufacturing and commercial 
industry. They are, moreover, one of the most important elements 
in determining the climatic condition of any given region, and 
through these the distribution of population, of industrial pursuits 
and of disease and health." He goes on to say that " the value 
of the forests is greater than all the metals, coal, petroleum, stone, 
and all the steamboats, vessels, &c, plying in American waters 
and belonging to citizens of the United States." He complains 
that practically nothing is done to protect or to cultivate, a 
statement which equally applies to this country, and yet three- 
quarters of the population use wood as a fuel. In the Australian 
bush there is at present an apparently unlimited supply of fuel, 
yet the scarcity of it in the neighbourhood of the larger towns 
