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332 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Srpr., 1901. 
The thinning from the plantations devoted to timber-raising may be usefully 
employed for fencing rails and similar purposes. é 
Everyone knows how well pine-trees of all descriptions flourish in Queens- 
land. Wherever an imported tree of this family has been planted, it has 
invariably grown luxuriantly. There is then no reason why we should not haye 
large areas devoted entirely to this tree, thus utilising much of the, at present, 
valueless Western country. The trees would also probably flourish on the 
prickly-pear infested country, especially as the roots run along the surface of 
the ground and derive much of their nourishment from their own débris. The 
prickly pear would prove a shelter for the roots from the hot sun, and also 
provide succulent nourishment from their dead leaves. 
THE EFFECT OF PLANTING FOREST TREES. 
There are large portions of hilly country in this State which are completely 
devoid of trees. Such bare hills may be seen in parts of the Blackall Range, 
where the soil is so shallow as to be only able to produce a slight covering of 
grass. In many places the soil is washed away, as may be seen in the Gilbert 
Ranges, towards the Etheridge country. Supposing these bare summits and 
hillsides to be planted with—and hence sheltered by—plantations of suitable 
timber, they would then serve as very important additions to the catchment 
areas of the Gilbert, Einasleigh, Lynd, Norman, and Flinders Rivers. Now, 
what is the effect of a growth of trees on these rocky slopes? Their roots are sent 
deep down through the fissures of the rocks. They act as wedges in bursting 
them asunder, then the soil and detritus washed down by the rain water collects 
in these enlarged fissures, the soil being enriched by the humus and vegetable 
matter, such as dead leaves, grass, &e. Then there is another action of the 
water and collected soil, which has been pointed out by Dr. Robert 'T. Cooper, 
M.A., M.D., in a pamphlet entitled, -‘Ireland’s Real Grievance : the 
Reafforesting of the Country. Being part of a Lecture delivered in the Rotunda 
Rooms, Dublin, 15th September, 1900.” He says :— 
“The mould created thus by the discarded constituents of the trees is 
further added to, owing to its agency in disintegration of the rock upon which 
it rests. This is owing to the vegetable constituents forming, with its contained 
moisture, humic and other acids; these tend to dissolve out the silica and other 
hard constituents of the rocks, and in this way the rocks themselves contribute 
additions that go to the formation of a rich manurial mould. <A rock thus 
covered over with fertile mould, and this mould situated under the shade and 
protection of a tree, is placed in the best possible condition for resisting the 
devastating effects of storms and torrential rains, their injurious influence bein 
still more minimised by the intercepting medium formed by the pyrantel 
expansion of the trees. The washdown, therefore, from the declivities of the 
mountains, instead of being torrential and destructive, becomes, thanks to the 
agency of trees, gradual, creative, and regenerative; thus conducing to the 
enrichment in soil of the low-lying expansions of the country, to infiltration of 
moisture into the agricultural soil, and to the gradual oozing from it into the 
adjoining water-channels of a liquid purified, drinkable, and well filtered.” 
Dr. Alex. Japp, L.L.D., &c., writing on this subject, says that where, as in 
Treland and Scotland, the substratum is impervious and rocky, the soil thin, 
and apt to be washed away completely by overpowering rains to the sea, and 
all the enriching and fruitful elements lost, if crops are to be got, they must be 
supplied laboriously and at great cost by science and industry. 
During the great flood of 1893, in this State, the aforementioned enriching 
elements were washed from thousands of acres into the rivers and thence to the 
sea. The rivers were thick with these fruitful elements. Now, a river should 
consist of the rainfall that has undergone as efficient a filtration through the 
agricultural soil of the country as is possible, and not by torrential rains, of a 
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