1.0cr., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 273 
Forestry. 
FORESTRY ON THE DAINTREE. 
We are indebted to our old friend Mr. Theodore Pentzcke for the follow- 
ing ideas on forest conservancy. He deprecates selfishness in the matter of 
planting trees which will not be available for the mill for sixty or eighty years, 
saying that we of the present generation have for years been busy felling and 
using trees which we did not plant, reaping where we did not sow, and that we 
should as a duty plant for our successors. We once told the little story in this 
Journal of the old octogenarian German farmer who was planting an orchard 
of young cherry-trees. On being asked why he could be so foolish as to plant 
trees of which he could not possibly hope to enjoy the fruit, he replied :—‘* I 
may not live to enjoy it, but my descendants will, and they will bless the hand 
which planted them.” 
In like manner Mr. Pentzcke considers we should act for the benefit of 
our descendants, and both plant and conserve existing timber trees. The cedar- 
tree of Queensland only arrives at maturity after ninety years, and, on account 
of its tender wood, requires some shelter from other timber. He suggests, 
therefore, that some substantial valuable timber trees should be planted 
with cedars, and considers that teak would be the most valuable. Teak returns 
acrop of poles after thirty years. In sixty years they form fair-sized trees 
suitable for the sawmill, by which time some of the cedars will be ready for 
cutting. In ninety years the teak will girth 6 feet and the cedar 10 feet. Then 
both can be cut, and the forest will still be renewing itself. The fact that the 
timber crop cannot be harvested in our time should not deter us from planting. 
Teak should be planted in belts outside the cedar, of which forty may be planted 
er acre, in good scrub land, still covered with undergrowth to preserve the 
umus so easily lost by the washing away caused by the drenching Northern 
rains. If the land at some distant date is required for the cultivation of 
sugar, rice, coffee, or bananas, the timber would pay heavy interest on the 
purchase money, and when finally harvested would yield compound interest—a 
splendid legacy for a man’s descendants. If cedar is cut before it is sixty 
years old it is worthless. Many timbers are at maturity at twenty years, but 
they are equally worthless. Pines are best planted in groups—not mixed with 
other trees. The so-called scrub ironbark, however, is an excellent, durable, 
quick-growing timber. It is a stately tree, very resinous, and, when young, is 
easily recognised by its variegated bark. This tree Mr. Pentzcke has always 
named (perhaps wrongly) Araucaria ewcelsa. Most of the scrubs contain the 
Greyillea, but the best of all are the Flindersia excelsa, the ash, the silkwood. 
These would mix well with bamboo and dendrocalamus (also a species of bamboo). 
When he was collecting plants and seeds for the late Government Botanist. of 
Victoria, Baron Ferd. vy. Mueller, it transpired that the Daintree timbers corres- 
pond to a great extent with those of the Malay Peninsula and the East Indies. 
It may safely be said that the number of different kinds of timber here varies by 
more than 100 per cent. than those of Europe. He considers that our Plindersia 
excelsa is on a par with the best mahogany, and it is a pity itis not better known. 
It differs from the latter in colour, but is tougher, more elastic, and lighter, which 
are excellent qualities. The timber was formerly much used for making casks. 
Beef casks made of it and sent to England were eagerly bought up by wine 
merchants, the staves being split from the quarter, exhibiting the pea grain 
(silver grain) with flecks of horny scales which are very large. The timber is 
more airtight than any other known timber, and the volatile aromatic oil is 
thus prevented from evaporating. The aroma remains with the wine, which is 
thus in better condition when cellared:to increase in the wine the noble much- 
prized taste and smell. 
