12 . 
The South Australian Naturalist. 
To residents on the Adelaide plains the forests of the Mount 
Lofty Ranges are of immense importance. We are beginning to 
see that the greatest function of a highland forest is to protect | 
the land from erosion. Not only does the forest cover lower the | 
temperature but it holds back the floods and prevents them from 
sweeping down in resistless fury washing away the soil and filling 
the streams with rocks and sand, choking up the valleys and ' 
causing disastrous floods to spread over the lowlying plains. The 
Adelaide plains in particular are beginning to suffer from the 
cutting down of the trees in the higher parts of the ranges. 
In view of the importance of our limited forest area, it is 
perhaps not too much to work for a measure similar to that in 
force in many countries in which certain areas of forests are 
vested in the government, and no trees are to be cut in such 
areas without special permission of forest officers. Look at our 
figures. Australia should have about 20 — 25% in forest, actu- 
ally we have less than 4% and that rapidly dwindling. 
As a timber producer the stringybark takes a high place in 
our State. Its timber is strong and compares favourably with the 
timber of most gum trees. 
II. Distribution. 
Though the finest and straightest trees have been cut 
out there still remains a remnant of the forest of stringybarks 
which once covered the Mount Lofty Ranges above 1300 feet 
level. Travellers by the south line may notice that the stringy- 
barks come in just before the train climbs out of the National 
Park about a mile on the Adelaide side of the Long Gully station. 
The railway at this place is 1307 feet above sealevel. On the 
Glen Osmond — Mt. Barker road travellers may note the appear- 
ance of the stringybarks just beyond the “Eagles on the Hill” at 
about the same level. 
On the Upper Sturt road, it is met with about one mile east 
of the Upper Sturt Post office. This is at the top of the range 
there and follows the manna gum (A. viminalis). 
Its range extends beyond Bridgewater in an easterly 
direction and beyond Mt. Barker to the south-east but dies out 
before the eastern slopes of the' highlands are reached, not occur- 
ring beyond Nairne (27.22 inches of rainfall). We have 
not seen it in the Torrens Gorge nor around the Millbrook Reser- 
voir (1000 feet) where its place is taken by the Olive-leaved 
Gum (A. elaeophora) which has bark rather scaly than fibrous and 
is in other respects quite different. 
