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under this size to 8 feet apart, which I think is quite close enough to enable them to become useful. The 
pine is occasionally attacked by a grub, which is about |ths of an inch long, of a white or cream colour. 
Its head is the largest part and it burrows around the stem of the plant, just under the bark, while young, 
and afterwards penetrates to the interior, sometimes killing the tree, but so far does not seem to have 
destroyed many in this district; but rabbits, if hard pressed for food, will bark the small saplings, as has 
been done in this district, but not to any great extent, as the rabbits are not at present numerous 
enough.—(Forester Postlethwaite, Grenfell.) 
In the Annual Report, Forest Branch, Department of Mines, for 1884, p. 35, 
is a “ Report by Dr. von Lendenfeld on the life-history of an insect destroying the 
pine scrub in the Nymagee, Condobolin, and Forbes districts.” The insect in 
question is a beetle Diodoxus erythrurus, White, which ringbarks the young pine 
scrub. He made the remarkable proposal that these beetles should he systematically 
introduced into the pine scrub in order that they might clear it, saving the cost of 
felling or ringbarking. The larval stage of the beetle is the grub already alluded to 
by Mr. Forester Postlethwaite. While there are, of course, drawbacks to pine 
scrubs, yet the pine is a valuable asset in this country, and the time may come 
when it will be carefully conserved. Already in parts of the country the scarcity 
of this valuable timber is being felt, and it often grows in situations entirely 
unsuited to agriculture, or even pasture. 
There is a very limited quantity of matured pine-trees in my district; the young trees vary in size 
from 2 to 10 inches in diameter, and are of heal thy condition and straight, but are of such dense growth 
that the trees can make but little headway on account of not having sufficient light and moisture.— 
(Forester Payten, Corowa.) 
I consider we have a supply of pine here which, with care, would last a generation if our reserves 
are only attended to—that is, by having the timber judiciously thinned out and the useless scrub destroyed. 
—(Forester Condell, Nar rand era.) 
Between the Murray and the Darling there must be at least 50,000,000 acres of pine country, less 
what has been destroyed. In all that area there are no other timber of any commercial value but Pine and 
River Gum (Eucalyptus rostrata). The pine derives its principal value from its resisting the white ants 
and because there is no other timber, west of Forbes, in any quantity that does so. The notable increase 
and spread of young pine-trees dates back from the country being stocked with sheep ; after rain, the seed is 
dibbled into the soil by the sheep’s feet. From 20 miles north of the Murrumbidgee to beyond Cobar, and 
from Dubbo, Forbes, and Wagga, on the east, to Booligal and Mossgiel, on the west, may be considered a 
vast pine forest with a few open plains intervening. In my belief a great misapprehension exists regarding 
the time required for a pine sapling to become a matured tree—say from 1 foot high to 15 inches in 
diameter. Mr. J. Ednie Brown thought it would grow to be 1 foot thick in twelve or fourteen years. 1 
think it will take at least sixty years; and this is accounted for by the diminished and intermittent 
rainfall of the Western district. I have counted eight young pines, 3 to 8 feet high, on 14 square inches. 
As they grow up the taller kill the shorter ones, while the density or number of the plants wither the 
lateral branches, ultimately leaving the trees that matured without branches or knots for 20 feet to 25 feet 
from the ground. But for the pine the whole of the Western district would require to import its timber, 
for American or Baltic is ruined by the white ants in a year or two.—(Forester Kidston, Condobolin.) 
In places where young whipstick pine is growing thickly I have seen a few trees, about 4 feet high, 
that have been cleared and pruned, the consequence being that in seven years they have become saplings 
18 feet high, with a circumference of 1 foot; whilst on the other hand, whipstick pine left alone, growing 
some distance from Gunnedah, is, I am credibly informed, almost the same to-day as it was fifteen years 
ago, the only difference being that some are taller than others, perhaps 14 feet high, but with no trunk of 
any size; but if these were cleared and pruned now they should in a very few years mature, and the 
gradual dying out of the matured pine in my district without a corresponding increase, or anything being 
done to push the young pine forward, should show the necessity of fostering an important industry.— 
(Forester Harris, Gunnedah.) 
