62 HE PUHIPUHI KAURI FOREST, 
of Kauri and 3 million sup. ft. of Totara. ne pike other timber 
of which cognisance was taken in the working of those days was Totara, 
Unlike Australian timber, which is almost always hollow, Kauri js 
usually sound to the heart; so that fires leave a rich harvest of sound 
timber ready to haul out easily. I take it that if Kauri-forest fires in 
the old days had destroyed the best marketable timber instead of makin 
it more easily available, something would have been done to stop them, 
for, as will be seen later, the fire-protection of a Kauri forest is one of 
the easiest amongst forests. 
TIMBER-OBSERVER S RECOLLECTIONS ANALYSED. 
Mr. Crompton Smith, now Chief Draughtsman in the Head Office, 
Lands and Survey Department, Wellington, in the course of his duties 
as a surveyor had occasion, in the summer of 1885, to pass through a 
part of the Puhipuhi Forest before it was destroyed. This was three 
years before the disastrous fire of 1888. He preserves a clear recollec- 
tion of the forest, and has more than once described it to me. I liave 
verified his recollections with those of others who had seen this forest, 
so unique in the forest histories of the world, and who have got it fixed 
in their memories. Mr. Crompton Smith describes the forest as con- 
sisting of trees 3it. to 7 ft. in diameter, with 60 ft. or 70 ft. of clean 
bole, and standing about 15 ft. to 20 ft. apart. Let us suppose that 
the trees had a mean diameter of 4it., a 60 ft. bole, and averaged 18 ft. 
apart. From centre to centre this distance would be 22 ft., or at the 
rate of ninety trees per acre. This is about what one sees in fairly 
fully stocked areas of Kauri forest to-day. I have seen it in patches 
in Waipoua, in Kauri Park, and in Mr. Trounson’s forest. I have 
httle doubt there were ninety trees per acre in the Puhipuhi Forest. 
I have an estimate from an experienced bushman there of 150 large 
trees per acre. This might be possible as a maximum over small areas. 
Such trees, standing so close for their size, would certainly have less 
than the usual taper. However, to be on quite the safe side, taking the 
usual taper allowance of 1 ft. girth per 20 ft. length, the mean diameter 
is reduced to 42in. A trunk 42in. mean diameter and 60 ft. long 
would cube 577 c. ft. gross volume, or 377 less 21°5 per cent, = 453 c. ft. 
q-g. volume. Thus we have for the stand of tunber per acre ninety 
trees of 403 c. ft, q.g. = 40,770 ¢. ft. g.g. (or, at one-fourth waste 
for sawing, 30,578 c. ft. of sawn timber). | 
This figure (40,770 ec. ft. q.g-) may be compared with 40,000 or 
50,000 c. ft. q.g., the estimated maximum stand for Karri (Bucalyptus 
diversicolor) im Western Australia (‘‘ Australian Forestry,’’ 1915). This 
high volume for the ‘‘ stand ”’ at Puhipuhi is due mainlv to the small 
laper of the trunks; in fact, the volume or cubic contents of one trunk 
of Kauri 1s about equal to two of Western Australian Karri of the same 
thickness and height. 
cae Hebi ea have to be made for irregularities in the stand of 
wi Shas guar pais = ein forest of Kauri, and for the immature 
didmeter limit for Bok. aac ene timber-getters of those days took a high 
7 € immature timber—viz,, 2 ft, 
Sus ferdruliseas y mi ae . and that the average stand, discounting 
be about one-quarter sf th Son ee uomature timber, would only 
ats thee Hae 10 at te maximum stand which they saw, or, in roun 
Diore-with, Mr Buel ices (quarter-girth measurement). This accords 
‘KNULStS estimate mentioned aboye, p. 56. 
