THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 121 
natural history subjects with the impress of the Naturalists’ 
Society. 
You are all aware what forestry means to the country, and 
that at last the Government has given a tardy recognition to it, 
but has failed to grasp its fundamental elements, and how 
essential to the welfare of the country the preservation of our 
tices and their scientific cultivation really is, and that we should 
be doing what:America. France, Italy, Spain, Japan, ete., are; 
where the forestry question is of such paramount importance 
that scientists of all classes are investigating our timbers, select- 
ing and cultivating them. 
It is a well known fact that S. Africa with our wattles 
has ousted us out of the market for tannin—Spain and Italy 
are threatening to do the same with Eucalyptus oil, and the next 
thing one will hear of is that we are importing Australian hard- 
wood from America. It is apparently useless to turn to the 
(Government, and here again is work set out for us to inculcate 
into the minds of the children the value of forests, their in- 
{fluence on the rainfall and climate, the baneful effects of setting 
fire to the bush, which alas is not alone a boyish prank—the 
fact that our gum trees are sought for all over the world for 
their timber, as also for their chemical properties. That the 
gum trees are necessary for the protection of the birds, ete. 
Experience has shown even the casual railway traveller, 
that almost any part of our country which has been denuded of 
trees if left alone will soon re-afforest itself, so that there is not 
the necessity for planting large areas as they have to in other 
countries, and it seems a woeful state of affairs’ that attention 
is not concentrated on the selection and cultivation of our native 
timbers instead of wasting precious time and money on experi- 
menting with Pinus insignis and Ameriean soft woods. Have 
we no pine? The Richmond River pine lined many a_ pocket, 
and is still being sought for, and will be until it is extinct. No 
Cedar, no Acacia, melanoxylon considered the finest cabinet wood 
in the world, ro Grevillea robusta. The fact of the matter is we 
haven’t even got an Australia yet, and the sooner we set to 
work to cultivate % the better. Have it taught in our schools, 
and finally the University, for with the rapid increases in insect 
pests, we shall be in a sorry plight indeed unless something is 
done to Australianise our institutions and turn out scientists 
with a thorough working knowledge of Australian entomology 
and botany. 
