Sept. 2, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
377 
tion and national development, the chancellor 
said that it might not be the function of the 
Government to create work, but that it is an 
essential part of its business to see that the 
people are equipped to make the best of their 
own country, and, if necessary, help it to do so. 
A State can and ought to take a larger and 
wider view of its investments than individuals. 
“This brings me straight,” Lloyd George con¬ 
tinued, “to the questions of afforestation. There 
is a very general agreement 1 that some steps 
should be taken in the direction, I will not say 
of afforesting, but of reafforesting the waste land 
of this country. Here again we are far behind 
every civilized country in the world. In Ger¬ 
many, for instance, out of a total area of 133,- 
000,000 acres, 34,000,000 or nearly 25 per cent., 
are wooded. In France, out of 130,000,000 acres, 
17 per cent, are wooded. In the United King¬ 
dom, out of 77,000,000 acres, only 3,000,000, or 
4 per cent., are under wood. The number of 
people directly employed in forest work in this 
country is only 16,000, and yet the climate and 
soil of this country are just as well adapted for 
the growth of marketable trees as those of the 
estates of Germany. 
“Recently we have been favored with a strik¬ 
ing report of a royal commission, which outlines 
a very comprehensive and far-reaching scheme 
for planting the wastes of this country. The 
systematic operation which the commission 
recommends is a gigantic one, and before the 
Government can be committed to it in all its 
detaiis, it will require very careful considera¬ 
tion by a body of experts skilled in forestry. 
“I will tell the House what we propose to do: 
There is a certain amount of money, not very 
much, spent in this country in a spasmodic kind 
of way, on what I may call the work of national 
development—in light railways, in harbors, in 
indirect but very meager assistance to agricul¬ 
ture. I propose to gather all these grants to¬ 
gether into one national development grant, and 
to put in this year an additional sum of 200,000 
pounds for these purposes. Legislation will have 
to be introduced, and I will then explain the 
objects in greater detail, but the grant will be 
used in the promotion of schemes which have 
for their purpose the development of the re¬ 
sources of the country. 
“It will include such objects as the institution 
of schools of forestry, the purchase and prepar¬ 
ation of land for afforestation, the setting up of 
a number of experimental forests upon a large 
scale, expenditure upon scientific research in the 
interests of agriculture, experimental farms, the 
improvement of stock, the equipment of agencies 
for disseminating agricultural instruction, the 
encouragement and the promotion of co-opera¬ 
tion, the improvement of rural transport so as 
to make markets more accessible, the facilitation 
of all well-considered schemes for attracting 
labor back to the land by small holdings or recla¬ 
mation of wastes. Every acre of land brought 
into cultivation, every acre of cultivated land 
brought into a higher state of cultivation, means 
more labor of a healthy and productive char¬ 
acter; it means more abundant, cheaper and bet¬ 
ter food for the people.” 
Other authorities estimate that there are about 
20,000.000 acres of waste land in the United 
Kingdom, and that at least half of this area, or 
10,000,000 acres, is suitable for tree growth and 
will produce timber if planted. A yearly appro¬ 
priation for forestation and national develop¬ 
ment along the lines indicated in the chancel¬ 
lor’s speech would ultimately result in immense 
benefit to the country, and make it far less de¬ 
pendent than at present upon foreign sources 
of timber supply, which, in many cases, are de¬ 
creasing. 
Opossum Farming in Australia. 
The director of the zoological gardens at 
Sydney, Mr. Le Souef, who is at present in 
Wellington to make recommendations concern¬ 
ing its local zoo, and who is the author of the 
article in the Agricultural Gazette of New South 
Wales on opossum farming, from which Vice- 
Consul General Henry D. Baker, of Auckland, 
New Zealand, quoted in his report on that sub¬ 
ject in the Daily Consu'ar and Trade Reports 
for Feb. 2, 1911, states that since the first of 
the year some important plans for opossum 
farming have been projected in different parts 
of Australia. 
One farm exclusively for opossums has been 
started in Gippsland, Victoria, which comprises 
2,000 acres of eucalyptus “bush land.” An¬ 
other farm comprising 500 acres has been 
started in southern Tasmania, and another of 
150 acres in New South Wales. The chairman 
of the Sydney Stock Exchange has become 
much interested in the possibility of commercial 
breeding of opossums for their fur and expects 
to start a large farm for this purpose near 
Sydney. In western Australia there seems pros¬ 
pect of a company being formed for the breed¬ 
ing of opossums on a stretch of eucalyptus 
country comprising about 200,000 acres. 
Many instances are also being reported of 
farmers in various parts of Australia taking up 
the breeding of opossums as a special feature of 
their farms, in this way utilizing the timbered 
sections of their land which would not have 
much value for any other purpose. The ad¬ 
vantage of breeding opossums in wooded or 
scrubby country not profitable t® clear, is ap¬ 
parently being recognized, and in time it seems 
likely that the Australian opossum, instead of 
being hunted and rapidly exterminated, will be 
carefully bred on farms and become an im¬ 
portant commercial asset to Australian farmers. 
In a lecture at Wellington on the Sydney 
zoo, Mr. Le Souef, in showing some photo¬ 
graphs of the white kangaroos there, mentioned 
an interesting tendency on the part of some of 
the native animals of Australia to revert to 
white color, and stated that it is comparatively 
easy to breed most of these animals to secure 
colors desired. Utilizing this tendency for com¬ 
mercial purposes, he said, opossums can be 
bred to produce white, gray, brown, or black 
furs, with any intermediate shades desired; 
From the furrier’s standpoint, black or rich 
dark brown would be preferable, and these 
colors ought to be specially bred for in com¬ 
mercial opossum farming. 
Mr. Le Souef has expressed the opinion that 
certain parts of the United States where the 
eucalyptus has been introduced from Australia, 
as in California, might prove favorable for com¬ 
mercial opossum breeding, and that the skins 
might become a valuable by-product to the 
trees. As opossums of the Australian variety 
are specially fond of fruit, as well as eucalyptus 
leaves, no attempt should, of course, be made 
to rear them in the immediate vicinity of fruit 
orchards, where they might cause harm. 
Sunapee Forest Reserve. 
It has been found desirable in New Hamp¬ 
shire that private individuals should co-operate 
with the State in saving portions of the forests 
which were threatened with destruction. Thus 
an organization, headed by a Philadelphia man, 
has just bought up 800 acres of forest land on 
Mount Sunapee, overlooking Sunapee Lake and 
the State commission has detailed a forest ranger 
to look after the tract, and to carry out plans 
for its development and protection from fire. 
1 his particular strip of woodland was threat¬ 
ened with cutting in order that the logs might 
be ground to pulp in a paper mill. By their 
action the private individuals who raised the 
money for the purchase of the land have saved 
to themselves and to the State one of the most 
important scenic features of that section. Mount 
Sunapee would indeed have been desolate with 
the woods cut off in the thorough fashion in 
which paper mills cut them. 
1 he danger which threatened these woods is 
also threatening any number of other beautiful 
sections in New Hampshire and Maine. The 
paper mills are remorseless in their demands. 
1 hey want all the wood which is available. They 
do not care anything about the scenery; they do 
not care anything about conserving the water 
supply; they do not care about the feelings of 
summer visitors. All they wish is wood to feed 
the jaws of their great machines. And one may 
go through sections of the State mentioned and 
see how ruthlessly and thoroughly and unscien¬ 
tifically great sections have been cut over. If 
the State is ever to act it must act quickly. But 
States are slow. And in the meantime this ac¬ 
tion of these people in New Hampshire, in rais¬ 
ing a sum of money and purchasing a threatened 
section, is a shining example of what may be 
done in other places by other people who are 
interested in preserving the woods for their own 
sakes and for the sake of the scenic effect. 
American Forestry says that a little co-opera¬ 
tion now on the part of well-to-do private in¬ 
dividuals will help to solve the problem until 
the time comes when States and the Federal 
Government shall take the action which is really 
needed. 
Prospects Good. 
New Orleans, La., Aug. 25 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The local and State hunters are 
now making plans for the coming hunting sea¬ 
son and they are anticipating great success. Re¬ 
ports of the game wardens are to the effect that 
quail, doves, deer, wild turkeys and other game 
are very abundant. Duck hunting will not be 
at its best until a latter part of October or the 
middle of November. It is expected a large 
number of ducks will come from the North to 
the marshes and various lakes and waters in 
Louisiana. Geese and brant are expected in in¬ 
creased numbers. Several of the local hunters 
have received letters from friends in the North 
and East signifying their intentions of coming 
South this winter and spending several weeks 
hunting ducks, geese, wild turkeys, quail and 
other game. Deer are increasing in the central 
and northeastern portions of Louisiana. 
F. G. G. 
