420 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1901. 
Forestry. 
FOREST CONSERVANCY AND THE FARMERS. 
Since at last the forests of Queensland have been placed under the 
protection of the Government, it may be asked, “‘What interest have the farmers 
m forest conservancy :” We say they have a vital interest in the matter. Eyery 
farmer should take an intelligent interest in it, if only for the reason that with 
the destruction of the forests the cost of living on a farm would be almost too 
great for profitable occupation of the land. Practically every farmer who 
lants an orchard, going about it in a scientific manner, is a forester. Whilst 
his ordinary crops come to maturity in from two to six months or a year, his 
fruit trees In some cases take seven, ten, or.even fifteen years before he reaps 
the full reward of his care of them. _ Forest tree planting is merely orchard 
planting, with the difference that orchard trees are grown for their fruit, whilst 
forest trees are grown for the sake of the timber. On nearly all farms there is 
some land which is worthless for farm crops or for fruit trees or vines, but 
such land will grow excellent timber. Compare the quantities of the principal 
chemical substances taken annually out of an acre of ground by various field 
crops and by forest trees as shown by Dr. Schlich in his ‘‘ Manual of Forestry.” 
Taking an average of the crops, we have the following :— 
Total Ash in Ib. per Acre. Potash. Lime. Magnesiwn,|Phosphorus.| Sulphur, Silica. 
Field crops, 2351b. ... ...| 78 43 17 | 28 lL 37 
Wood and leaves, 126 1b. 2... | 11 62 wy | 8 3 99 
Wood only, 19 lb. th bs | 4 | 9 2 14 O-4 16 
This clearly shows that timber trees take far less nutriment out of the 
soil than any farm crops, and that they may therefore thrive in situations where 
nothing else would grow. Thus the right management of a farm, so as to utilise 
every acre of it, would include forestry. Farmers require wood for an infinity 
of purposes, and they can grow it themselves without waiting a vast number of 
years. Those who have taken note of the rapid growth of pine and cedar trees, 
and the comparatively rapid growth of many hardwoods, cannot fail to have. 
observed that in a very few years some return may be got from a plantation in 
the shape of thinnings, such thinnings being useful first for cockatoo fences, 
clothes props, scaffold poles, posts, plates, and rafters for barns, sheds, yards, 
and, later on, for stumps for frame houses. There are men living a few miles 
out of this city who make a good addition to their income by sending weekly 
supplies of clothes props into town, which they dispose of at 6d. each. 
Firewood is an absolute necessity, but where will it come from when the 
available supplies are used up? 'armers, therefore, should be especially 
active in their societies and associations to secure the best possible legislation 
on forest conservancy. The State work must of necessity be undertaken by 
the Government before forestry can be systematically taken up as farm 
orchard work, because it can only pay as a separate business when extended 
over large areas devoted to no other purpose. Already our Forestry Depart- 
ment has been actively engaged in looking into our timber supplies, and con- 
siderable areas have been added to our timber reserves, but farmers with large 
areas of land can assist greatly in.the work by devoting a portion of their 
oorest land to arboriculture, and they will find that by so doing they will not 
hae to wait for posterity to reap the whole benefit, whilst at the same time 
they will be assisting to enrich the country at practically no cost to them- 
selves. 
