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The revenue from tlie State forests, if thus raised by the actual sale of timber, where possible, would soon 
become a very large one. Details are entered into as to the special requirements of different districts, with ^ 
regard to the preservation of certain kinds of timber now becoming scarce, the care of young trees, tlie 
making of [)hmtatious, and so on; and it has been very generally suggested that each forest board should 
have charge of the reserved forests within its own district, with power to raise a revenue therefrom, and 
expend it as may be deemed most advantageous. Under such a system the Board of Land and Works 
would only have to issue such general regulations as might be deemed advisable from time to time, reserving, 
as a matter of course, the right to adopt or reject any sjrecial regulations submitted by each board. 
The PtANTiNO OF Treks on Private Property. 
Query 10. What measure of encouragement would you recommend to promote to the utmost 
the growth of timber on private land? 
For the promotion of this object the same idea, which has been lately carried out in New Zealand, 
seems to have suggested itself to some of your correspondents, namely, the granting of land in proportion 
to the extent successfully planted with exotic or native trees. The several proposals amount to tliis, that 
land certificates be offered to every owner of five, ten, twenty, thirty, or more acres of healthy growing 
trees, planted out three, or four, or five years, as may be deemed fit, the proportion of land to be so offered 
varying with the fancy of the writer. Home propose acre for aero ; others, more liberal or better acquainted 
with the cost of planting, would give five acres of bush land for every acre planted. Premiums of other 
sorts arc also named, including prizes offered by agricultural societies ; but these last wmuld scarcely suffice 
for inducement to plant, unless the ordinary amounts of such prizes are greatly increased. One suggestion 
is, that tho young trees should bo raised at forest nurseries, under the care either of local boards or the 
Inspector of Forests, and that money premiums should be offered to the successful growers of certain 
numbers of these for five or seven years. The raising of such trees at public nurseries seems to bo a 
favorite idea — these to be either given away or sold at cost price. It is stated that many owners of laud, 
who cannot afford to pay the prices asked by nurserymen, would plant and take care of trees, if they 
could obtain them at a low rate. And this view of the case is put in different forms. Some would not 
only have the trees given away, but they require, in addition, full instructions for planting and tending 
them, together with particulars as to the future value of the sorts recommended, at different periods of their 
growth. Others more reasonably ask that information of this kind be first distributed through tho country, 
and that the young trees be in due timo distributed, at cost price, to all such as may require them. Others, 
again, ask for information and a free distribution of tho seeds of such trees as it may be desirable to grow, 
whether native or exotic. It is pointed out that tho cost of collecting seeds here is not much, and as 
these are so highly valued^ in other countries' — France, for instance — that we could obtain cheaply all tho 
seeds wc would require to import by establishing a system of exchange. But this would have to be 
conducted through a Government department, or entirely trustworthy agents. Then, as many farmers, who 
cannot afford to buy them, would like~tohave young trees to plant out for shelter, it is suggested that 
persons farming their own land might h.ave a certain number of trees from the forest nurseries, in propor- 
tion to every acre cultivated. One idea is, that owners of land by tho side of wide roads should be allowed 
to fence in a certain width of tho land reserved for tho road, if they would undertake to plant this. And 
as to the roads generally, it is suggested by many of your correspondents, that the local managing bodies, 
whether councils or forest boards, should bo compelled to plant trees along them every year, tho numbers 
so planted to bo in proportion to their revenue from forests or other sources, the distance of the trees 
apart to be regulated by some general rules. Common suggestions are, also, that plantations of anything 
over an acre in extent should he exempt from r.ates or charges of any kind, and that trees planted by 
selectors should be liberally estimated, when valuing their improvements. The bulk of (he recommenda- 
tions are, however, to the effect that young trees of useful kinds should bo raised in large quantities in forest 
nurseries, by competent men in the service of the State, or of local boards these to be afterwards planted 
out according to the mode experiment may prove most desirable. If owners of land would not buy them, 
they might be given away ; or, as was done in France once with mulberries, even a premium might bo 
offered for successfully growing the sorts most valuable to the country. But the necessity for not sending 
out the young trees until they have atiained to a good size is strongly insisted on. Tho sending out of 
young trees of considerable size to distant localities is not only too expensive, but in many respects an 
impossibility, especially as regards tho evergreen sorts. Hence the necessity for local nurseries. 
Planting of L^vnd beside the Railways. 
Query 11. Would you recommend the pla7iting of olives, figs, mulberries, cork-oaks, various 
timber and fruit trees, or the rearing of suck other specially useful plants as are neither 
readily inflammable nor of tall growth along securely fenced railway lines, where the 
space is sufficiently wide ; and how could this be best accomplished? 
The general opinion is in favor of planting tho vacant spaces beside tho railway lines, but 
there is nothing like unanimity as to the kind of trees with which these should be planted. A few have 
recommended that the European system be adopted — that of economizing the land to the utmost, by planting 
it with low-growing and dwarf fruit trees. This would, in fact, necessitate the letting off, in small portions, 
of this now unused land ; for fruit trees could only be planted to serve private interests. Were these to be 
planted by the State, or by public bodies, the fruit would be an attraction to children when ripe, and 
would possibly be the cause of accidents of a serious nature. The loss would be certain, and injury to life 
or limb not improbable. Tho growing of fruits suitable for drying is part of a plan suggested for making 
such strips of land useful in trying experiments with the aid of prison labor. The men might be con- 
veyed by train to any portion of tho line, and then employed in digging or trenching the land ; this to bo 
afterwards planted with olives, mulberries, raisin vines, figs, almonds, or such trees as would afford products 
