130 INTERPLANTING, 
Mr. Jolly, the Chief Forest Officer of Queensland, a ius ce forester, 
recommends the interplanting of Australian Red Cedar, spaced about 
18 ft. apart, or 140 to the acre. 'Sylviculturally it is like Kauri in New 
Zealand or Oak in Europe, growing with no very dense covert of its own 
above a very dense soil-coyering, lower story of forest. . | 
Two major points have to be noted about interplanting in the native 
‘ bush *?—(1) economy, (2) so1l-maintenance. 
Economy. 
Interplanting would be for standards at first among and afterwards 
over an under-forest. Thus forest interplanting will be but a fraction of 
the cost of full planting in the open, since it is only necessary to put 
in a few more trees than are required to give a full stand of timber at 
cropping-time—say, 200 as a maximum and 100 as an average—instead 
of the 2,722 young trees required in ordinary planting 4ft. by 4 ft. 
apart, or 1,210 for the sparse planting of quick-growing trees planted 
6 ft. by 6 ft. apart. 
Spacing of Trees in European Forests.—Sir W. Schlich gives the 
following number of trees per acre, at 100 years of age, for forest produc- 
ing clean timber on land of good quality, viz.: Spruce, 220; Beech, 180; 
Oak, 140; Scotch-pine, 170; Silver-fir, 200: mean, 182. (Vols. 1 and 3.) 
Silver-fir, the shade-bearing conifer amongst European forest-trees, cut 
at a rotation of 100 years, vields on an average 12,530 cub, ft. q.g. 
per acre, of which 1,088 cub. ft. q.g. from thinnings and 11,432 cub. ft. 
q.g. from the final cutting. (Schlich, vol. 3, p, 372.) These figures 
are about 25 per cent. in excess of what I have taken (p. 83) for the 
normal cultivated forest of the future in New Zealand, which, turning 
to p. 92, it will be seen has the following data: 100 years’ rotation; 
100 trees per acre cubing 100 cub. ft, qg.g. each; an acrim of 100 cub, ft. 
q-g.; and consequently a final stand of 10,000 cub. ft. q.g. . Thus. 
100 trees per acre to interplant would in most cases be above the average 
required. 
Cost of Full Planting —The cost of New Zealand full plantations of 
trees in the open is discussed at p. 186. It cannot, with interest, be 
taken at much less than £50 per acre, or, without interest, £106. 
The average net cost of South African planting has been £10 per 
acre net, £15 gross, without interest; and the interest charge is not 
an easy calculation, because the plantations are accessible and thinnings 
saleable. These have already reduced the initial charge by one-third. 
Drought (and the necessity of constant cleaning to meet it), with much 
replanting, and always ‘‘ pot-and-pan’”’ nurseries, increase the cost of 
planting in South Africa; but, on the other hand, labour there is less 
than half as costly as in New Zealand, and, what is more important, 
there is such a good market for thinnings that some of the plantations 
have already repaid the original cost of planting, thus extinguishing 
the interest charge. A large proportion of sparser and cheaper (but 
inferior) planting would lower the cost somewhat for both countries; 
but for comparison with timber grown in the forest one must take the 
better-class close planting. 
Cost of Interplanting.—With planting only where natural regenera- 
tion fails the number required to be planted now would yary from forest 
