88 
CONIFERS AND EUCALYPTS. 
hollows where the subsoil is deep but frosts severe will be marked as available 
either for strongly frost resistant eucalypts or (subject to expert advice m every 
case) for such conifers as Sequoia sempervirens, Sequoia gig ante a, 01 inus 
ponderosa. Knolls and plateaux that are made safe and genial through the wintei 
nights by warm air forced up from the lower levels will be reserved foi the ten er 
and more valuable of the eucalypts. Higher up the slopes will be found aieas 
suitable for Pseudo-tsuga Douglasii and Pinus radiata. Still higher up may e 
dry and exposed ridges that can be more successfully clothed with Pinus la? icio 01 
other hardy but slower growing pine. 
The conifers will befriend the eucalypts by creating forest conditions and by 
their protective shelter. In some places it will be necessary to plant belts of haidy 
pines across the mouths of the valleys to arrest the inrush of harsh prevailing 
winds. If the situation is near the coast and the winds are charged with salt from 
the sea, the need for the pine screen to protect the less resistant hardwood trees 
will be especially imperative. All these groups of trees will in their place and 
time contribute to a valuable harvest of timber. 
Planting over country that presents great diversity in conditions of soil, 
temperature, and wind force must necessarily be difficult; and generally private 
owners of land who propose to undertake such a task will do well to seek the advice 
and assistance of trained and experienced foresters. First principles will be the 
same everywhere; plans and choice of trees must vary indefinitely to suit local 
conditions. 
All planting of timber trees should be carried out with due thought for the 
future harvesting of the crop. Many of the eucalypts and some of the conifers 
grow very rapidly to large dimensions; and we must remember that their value as 
yielders of either fuel, fencing material, or sawn lumber will depend largely upon 
the facility with which we can convey their material to the homestead or to the 
sawmill. Within a few years there will be the thinnings to be brought out, and 
later the large logs. In view of all this, the initial working plan for any considerable 
area of hilly country must reserve tracks down the valleys and along the contours 
for future roads or truck lines. It must, where practicable, also provide that the 
trees shall be planted in straight rows up and down the slopes, so that the thinnings 
and logs may be easily dragged down to the truck lines. By prudent foresight the 
planter may ensure for the future woodman both a clear track and the maximum 
available assistance from gravitation. 
SOWING AND PLANTING. 
SOWING IN SITU. 
The simplest and easiest way in which to start a plantation of eucalypts is to 
sow the seed where the trees are to grow. The conditions that favour success of 
the method are closely similar to those that determine success in sowing clovers and 
grasses, and therefore can be easily understood by any farmer or settler. The 
method is called sowing in situ , and it may be practised" either on land that has not 
been cultivated or on land that has been prepared by cultivation. 
