110 VALUE OF THE NEW ZEALAND FOREST. 
value of the timber “‘stand’’ as compared to a normal Kauri forest. 
Totara may come very near Kauri. As a durable softwood, ‘Totara 
amongst timbers comes into the same high class as Kaur. Like Kauri, 
there is certain to be a great demand for it in the world’s markets of 
the future. If, as is highly probable in the cultivated forests, foresters 
succeed in getting rid of its unsoundness, the “‘ kaikok ” rot, Totara may 
rise to a value nearly equal to Kauri, The loss from ° kaikok ’’ rot is 
estimated by Kirk to amount in the present old trees to between 40 and 
50 per cent. 
New Zeavanp’s Two Brest TIMBERS BOTH PEERLESS. 
Many of the best timbers in New Zealand are Podocarps; all the 
large timbers of South Africa are Podocarps (‘* Podo’’ is the miller’s 
term in British East Africa); there are other fine Podocarpus timbers 
in Japan, Chile, and the tropics; but within my knowledge Podocarpus 
totara is the best of all the Podocarps, exactly as New Zealand Kauri is 
the best of all the Kauris. It is a singularly happy circumstance that 
the two chief timbers of New Zealand each belong to a class of valuable 
timbers, and each is king of its class! 
Kauri, Totara, and Rimu easily distance European timbers. Rimu 
and Totara taken together are better than Oak, since Totara is more 
durable (judging by average sleeper-life) out-of-doors, and Rimu is more 
beautiful. The selected Rimu panelling one sees in good New, Zea- 
land houses easily surpasses Oak panelling and wainscotting in Euro- 
pean houses. There is little doubt that Totara and Rimu taken together 
equal or outdo Oak, and the two of them are more abundant in New 
Zealand forests than is Oak in European forests. Kauri might be com- 
pared to Oak, though, in every respect but strength it is superior. To 
find an equal to Kauri one must search the world through. As a tree, 
Kauri grows some 50 to 75 per cent. faster than Oak; it is less unsound, 
and attains a much greater size and longevity. Its timber is more 
easily worked than Oak, and somewhat more durable. 
European Scotch-pine is easily distanced by the less abundant but 
first-class timbers of New Zealand—Puriri, Celery-top or Tanekaha, the 
Cedars, the Silver-pines. The first two, and perhaps the Silver-pines, 
will have an extended utility in the cultiyated forest. 
Whate-pine, now engaging so much attention in New Zealand, is dis- 
cussed in a separate chapter of ‘‘ Forest Policy.”’ It ranks with the 
white perishable softwoods of Europe, Spruce and Silver-fir; but as a 
tree White-pine grows larger and probably faster. 
ToTaRA A CEDAR. 
Kirk in his Forest Flora discusses the relative merits of Kauri and 
Totara. It will be sufficient here to note that Totara is imbued with an 
essential oil which gives it its superiority over ordinary softwoods. and puts 
it into the same class as the true Cedars, Cedrela and J uniperus: indeed, 
the colour, easy working, essential oil, and brittleness make Totara prac- 
tically a Cedar in timber-classification. The largest of the world’s true 
Cedars, the pencil-cedar of the future, is Juniperus procera of the East 
African highlands. This is affected by a heart-rot similar to ‘‘ kaikok.’’ 
It is unfortunate that for business purposes and the world’s markets 
Totara has not been called a Cedar. It only lacks the Cedar smell: but so 
also does the Australian Cedar, Cedrela australis. It is curious that the 
