284 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Aprit, 1902. 
clumps of trees, and beyond these high wooded mountains. From the tropical 
jungles comes the well-known dye-wood, called log-wood, and from the inland 
forests the equally well-known and valuable mahogany ; 15,000 tons of log-woog 
and 20,000 tons of mahogany are annually exported. We learn from a report 
by the Colonial Secretary of British Honduras last year, that it would appear 
that the supply of real ‘‘ Honduras” mahogany is beginning to fail—that jg 
that our exporters find it difficult to turn out that fine article which has hitherto 
stood so high in the estimation of the timber trade. The good wood that can 
be brought to the coast in existing conditions is no doubt comparatively scarce 
and this condition of things must remain until improved methods of trans. 
portation render it possible to draw from the more inaccessible forests. 
Mean- 
while the projects for a railway are apparently still in abeyance. 
SPARE THE YOUNG CEDARS. 
We have repeatedly deplored the wholesale destruction of young cedar, 
pine, and silky oak trees now going on in the Northern portion of the State, 
yet the practice has not been discontinued. Perhaps, in the event of a slacking 
off in clearing new scrubs for the purpose of sugar-planting, the young trees 
may have a chance to reach maturity, or at anyrate to attain such dimensions 
as may give pause to the selector in the matter of destroying what it must be 
obvious to an intelligent man will prove a most remunerative asset to hig 
children and to his children’s children, if the trees are carefully looked after 
and the scrub systematically worked. Mr. T. T. Pentzcke, of Hohenufer, 
Daintree River, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information on the 
present condition and on the possibilities of various industries on that river, 
gives a further instance of the growth of the cedar. He says that, in 1880, a 
cedar-tree 8 feet in girth was lett standing ona clearing. ‘Trees of this size, 
not having much value in the timber-getters’ eyes, are seldom cut down, 
except by selectors blind to their own interests. This particular tree had at 
that time a diameter of over 2 feet at 8 feet from the ground. At present it 
measures over 16 feet in girth or over 5 feet in diameter, and is just suitable 
for mill purposes. It grows amongst masses of rock near a’ puanne spring, 
on soil quite useless for ordinary agriculture. The increase of 36 inches in 
diameter in 21 years is equal to nearly 1} inches per annum. It was shown 
in our articles on forest conservancy (Agricultural Journal, Vol. IL., p. 68) 
that the cedar makes three growths, equivalent to an increased diameter of 
2 inches, every three years. Yet here we have an instance of a tree growing 
on rough, rocky soil, containing abundance of lime, showing an increase of 
54 inches every three years. 
Mr. Pentzcke considers that it would pay well to plant cedar groves on 
such land as is here described, which is useless for any other purpose. Such a 
tree as the above, supposing the trunk to be 60 feet long, would square 
45 inches and yield about 10,000 feet superficial board measurement. 
We leave it to the selectors to figure out for themselves the future value 
of 10 or 20 acres of such trees. 
The wholesale destruction of silky oaks for making banana crates is 
strongly in evidence in Brisbane, when the weekly cargoes of bananas arrive 
from the North. Silky oak is a timber valuable for stave-making, and for 
‘cabinet-making as it takes a good polish, yet the principal use it is put to is 
as stated, the making of banana crates, which ultimately find their way to the 
fireplace. 
