FOREIGN KAURI TREES. 27 
pieces immediately it touches the ground, or even before, the seeds then being 
carried a long distance by the wind. The seeds are flat and very light, with a 
wing attached to each. The seed vegetates soon after falling. It will not bear 
being kept dry for any length of time, and is thus difficult to send away. 
According to Cheeseman, the cones usually open while still on the 
tree-tops. The seed-shedding may depend somewhat on the weather; dry 
hot weather tending to open the cones on the trees, wet stormy weather 
to make the cones fall whole. 
Bunya-pine, the most valuable of the Araucarias, has its cones regu- 
larly collected in Queensland. 14 tons of Bunya-seed was reported sown 
at Imbil during 1917. 
The Kauri Seedling.—‘‘ li a seedling be removed from the forest 
and planted in the open it will assume a reddish hue. To succeed in 
transplanting seedlings they must be taken out when about 6 in. high, 
and kept well shaded and sheltered.’’ Thus, D. Hay. He adds that 
he has had Kauri-pines grow 6in. or 8in. the first season. I have 
frequently noticed the red colour of Kauri seedlings growing in open 
parts of the forest. 
On Ranger Maxwell’s Lot 12 there is a good deal of Kauri natural- 
regeneration saplings and poles. It seems clear that for rapid develop- 
ment the Kauri must have plenty of light, but that for healthy growth 
when young it must have the moisture, the shelter, and the side shade of 
the native forest. 
KAURI SELF-CLEANING, 
Like many of the Australian Eucalypts, hke Larch in Scotland (but 
apparently not in New Zealand), Kauri cleans off its side branches 
naturally. This is, of course, an important point in the sylviculture 
of a Kauri forest. It is a quality that, in the powerful light and forcing 
climate of New Zealand, few trees possess—apparently only Kauri and 
White-pine among the premier timbers of New Zealand. But for this 
quality Kauri could not stand out as it does so far above the under- 
forest. In this characteristic Kauri contrasts very favourably with Oak, 
which runs out into side branches as soon as the immediate support of 
the under-forest is removed. 
This virtue is of supreme importance for Kauri, because it will in the 
future be largely propagated artificially by interplanting standards in the 
bush. 
FOREIGN KAURI TREES. 
There are many Kauris outside New Zealand, but none equal in size, 
quality of timber, or value of the resin to New Zealand Kauri. Many 
species yield resin: <Agathis alba, of the Pacific islands, produces 
the Amboina Dammar resin used for varnish; Agathis obtusa, of the 
New Hebrides, is said to grow as tall as, but not to the great thickness 
of, New Zealand Kauri. The Sydney Botanical Gardens, beautiful of 
situation, have a poor shallow soil favourable to very few trees. The 
most remarkable group of trees there are Kauris, indicating perhaps that 
ability to grow on poor soil is a feature of the genus, and is not confined 
to New Zealand Kauri. The group of Agathis trees in the Svdney 
Botanic Gardens show straight pillar-like stems, with smooth blackish 
bark, and fresh-green thick phyllode-like leaves. The largest tree is 
Agathis robusta, here some 2 ft. 8 in. diameter and 60 ft. of total height. 
Nearly as large is A. moorez, from New Caledonia, and A. vitiensis, from 
Fiji: Smaller trees are A. ovata, of New Caledonia, and A. loranthifolia, 
of Malaya. 
