154 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Fes., 1898. 
Forestry. 
FOREST CONSERVANCY. 
By A. J. BOYD, 
Queensland Agricultural Department. 
Parr 3. 
So far as our forests are concerned, it appears to me that the most feasible 
method of reproduction is yet to trust to Nature to aid her efforts. 
We all know that the Eucalyptus family produces abundant seed. This 
falls on the ground, and a considerable portion of it germinates. I have 
seen a dense growth of young blue gum growing up after I had felled several 
large trees covered with seed. These saplings choked each other, and, had 
T required timber to grow, it would have been necessary to thin them out. 
If such work be done judiciously, room will be given to the remaining trees to 
arrive at a size when they may be utilised. 
One of the reasons for the dense growth of these gums I take to be that 
the old trees, when in full seed, were felled upon freshly burnt-off scrub land. 
The ground was covered with a layer of ashes, and I have observed that 
wherever the seed falls upon ashes it germinates much more freely than if it 
fell upon the bare Broun The serub at Oxley Creek, where this occurred, 
was very heavy, and consequently the ashes were in considerable quantity. If 
this fact be generally noticeable, it should be of much value to those who have 
any intention of forming nurseries of young trees. 
As, then, Nature appears to be only too willing to repair the ravages of 
man, it would appear to be superfluous to undertake the planting of trees— 
that is to say, forming artificial plantations—and only necessary to assist her 
by protecting young trees naturally sown. But the expense of doing so 
thoroughly would, I believe, be found to be quite as great as and far more 
laborious than forming new plantations. 
It would entail, firstly, the burning off of the vast masses of heads and 
useless butts left by the timber-getters, splitters, fencers, &e.—a labour in 
itself so great as only to be appreciated by actual visitation of a once heavily 
timbered scrub or forest which has been laid under contribution by those 
tireless workers. . : 
To compel the latter or the saw-mill proprictor to burn off the tree-heads, 
especially of beech and cedar, would be handicapping them to such an extent 
that it would pay them better to import timber from Puget Sound, Vancouver, 
than to utilise our own resources. Furthermore, when the young seedlings 
become tolerably vigorous, they would require thinning out. If we consider 
the performance of this operation over a moderate timber reserve of, say, 10,000 
acres, it will be easy to see that a considerable amount of labour and heavy 
expense would be necessary. The operations of Nature, then, can only partially 
be aided in the manner described. But, even without these operations, the 
proclaiming of certain areas as closed for a term of years and of others as open 
must operate most beneficially in preserving a supply of timber for future use, 
always provided that a Crown ranger be on the spot to supervise and control 
the work, and whose whole and sole duty should be the surveillance of the 
reserve under his care. 
The next means we have of reproducing our timber is by planting young 
trees. This is the method now resorted to, in conjunction with those 
mentioned by the Department of Agriculture, notably on Iraser’s Island, . 
where many thousands of young trees, principally pine, beech, and silky oak, 
have been planted out in lanes cut through the scrubs. These planted lanes 
haye an aggregate length of at miles, and the trees thrive remarkably well. 
Besides planting out, the naturally growing saplings are cared for and guarded 
