exacting one of her inflexible penalties. The reckless destruction of forests has developed such an increase of insect life in some of the States as to render the production of human food more and more precarious. Late accounts inform us that large areas have been devastated by swarms of grasshoppers, whilst in other districts the vast increase of the Colorado beetle has rendered the cultivation of the potato almost impossible. Indeed serious fears are entertained that unless some remedy can be found the cultivation of the potato will, from this cause, before long disappear from large tracts of America. This result will be mainly due to the denudation of the natural forest lands, and to the neglect to create forests on the vast prairies of the North American continent. The chief allies of man against the enormous increase of insect life are undoubtedly birds. Without forests birds cannot exist in sufficient numbers to render efficient aid in controlling this undue increase of the insectivorous tribes. It ought not to be forgotten that birds, more than any other agency, have been and are the great distributors of seeds and the chief planters of forests.

The attention of the Austral Colonies has not been directed to the conservation and creation of forests one moment too soon. The singular paucity of varieties of plants of economic value, of animals and birds in these colonies has led to the formation of those very useful institutions—the Acclimatisation Societies. It is not too much to expect that these organisations by wise, systematic, and well-directed operations will help to arrest the reckless destruction of forests as well as aid in creating new ones, and thus prevent the deterioration of our excellent climates, and by the introduction of insectivorous birds, will enable agricultural operations to be carried on with fairer prospects of success. Mr. Vogel, the Premier of this Colony, by his Forests Bill, has undertaken a truly national work, and is on that account entitled to the warmest thanks of every well-wisher to the present and future welfare of this and the adjacent colonies.

To me forest culture in this colony has long been of deep interest. In 1868 I pointed out to the leading Waikato settlers that their treeless and fern-covered plains would, as the fern disappeared, be subject to rapid evaporation, to untimely frosts, to droughts and floods, to the great increase of insect life, to the serious injury of their climate, as well as to the losses incidental to the scarcity of timber, unless steps were taken to form plantations. With the view of practically giving effect to my advice I at that time widely distributed amongst them large quantities of valuable seeds of the Coniferæ, and I have not failed to carry out practically my opinions by planting to a moderate extent on my own estates at Matamata.

I propose in this paper to treat the subject of forestry under two divisions:—

My remarks on forest conservation will apply chiefly to the Province of Auckland, there being doubtless many gentlemen in other divisions of the colony who will be able to do more justice in their respective districts to the subject than I can. For though, with the exception of the kauri (Dammara australis) and puriri (Vitex littoralis), and one or two other trees, there is a singular uniformity in the character of the arboreal vegetation of the entire colony, yet there is a wide difference in the development of many individual trees. For instance the kahikatea in the extreme north is a soft, woolly, and worthless timber, but becomes, the further south we travel, a more valuable wood. Again the white and red birches in the north are not timber trees, whilst in the south, I understand, they develope into large and valuable trees, suitable for a variety of purposes.

Though I do not concur in the statements made in the papers recently laid before the Assembly relating to the extent of the destruction of forests in the north I readily admit that a most reckless and wanton destruction has taken place, and is still going on at a constantly increasing ratio. Mr Vogel, in a speech delivered in this city some months ago, pithily said that a man would recklessly burn down a forest to light a pipe or boil a kettle. In truth our magnificent forests of kauri are being ruthlessly destroyed. It is not so much that noble kauri trees requiring 300 years to bring to their present perfection of beauty, strength, and grandeur are every day being cut down to build wooden houses, which will be rotten in 30 years, but it is the utter recklessness displayed by saw-mill proprietors, bush contractors, and splitters which is destroying our forests at a rate constantly increasing. In times not very far back, probably not much more than a century ago, the whole of the fern-covered plains of the North Island, north of a line from Whangaroa Harbour to Tauranga, were covered with dense kauri and totara forests. Small portions of these have been destroyed by the Maoris for cultivation, but fire has been the chief agent in stripping our plains of trees. In exactly a similar manner every patch of forest is still being attacked by fern fires, lit by the carelessness of settlers and natives. From these causes the almost total destruction of the forests of the North Island is but a question of time, unless stringent measures are taken to conserve them.

The kauri especially is doomed to extinction, except the young trees, saplings, and seedlings are carefully preserved from injury by man, cattle, or fire. Unquestionably Government ought not to sell for cultivation any forest land; forest lands in the hands of natives ought to be purchased by Government as quickly as possible. Lands over which saw-mill proprietors have secured cutting rights ought also to be purchased with the view of

preventing unnecessary destruction of trees other than kauri, most of which will yet prove of great economic value, and all of which are invaluable on climate account, with the object of preserving the young growing timber of all kinds, also for the purpose of closing up all forests out of which the larger kauri trees have been cut, so that the kauri may have a chance to grow undisturbed in its native habitat. I am convinced, if even this latter precaution be taken, that millions of kauri trees, from the tiny sapling to trees of, say, two feet in diameter, will be preserved for the use and ornament of the country for centuries to come.

Under the present system we are destroying our noble forests, the growth of centuries, and to this day (except by Mr Vogel's Forests Act) we have not made even an effort to stay the reckless tide of havoc and ruin which is sweeping them away. We are neither conserving the old nor creating new. If a squatter, having come into possession of a rare, valuable, and unrivalled flock of sheep, and, without taking a single step to perpetuate the famous breed, should proceed to boil down the entire flock, young and old, he would be denounced as a lunatic or a public enemy, or both. Yet we are now busily engaged in perpetrating a similar or worse enormity.

Acquired rights must of course be respected, nor will it be wise needlessly to check the timber industry, for there is undoubtedly an immense quantity of ripe kauri trees representing a large value in money, which are now at their prime, and which are being converted into marketable timber to the great advantage of the colony. At the same time there cannot be a doubt that this can be done without allowing the heads and branches of the trees to fall and lay pellmell amongst the young growing trees. The rough and ready system at present in full swing bruises and crushes down the young trees and provides fuel to destroy the whole forests, and so neutralises the efforts nature is making to redress the havoc and ruin we are so thoughtlessly causing.

Forestry as practised in Europe can only apply to the cutting of timber in this colony in its general principles, because our trees are very much larger than those cut down in European forests. This will be evident from the fact that kauri and many other forest trees range from 3 feet to 9 or 10 feet in diameter, and grow on the sides of valleys or gullies more or less precipitous. It is not, indeed, easy to see how trees of these diameters, frequently running up to 70 or 80 feet without a branch, and crowned with noble and spreading heads, can be felled without inflicting great damage upon the surrounding young timber. As I have already observed, acquired timber rights must be respected, and it may probably be only in kauri forests, acquired or to be acquired by Government, that such conditions can be imposed as will cause as little damage as possible. All such forests may and ought to be effectually

closed until experience has developed some judicious system of felling the ripe timber in such a way as to inflict as little damage as possible upon the young and growing timber. With the view of minimizing the damage to forests in the hands of private persons, the first efforts of Government ought to be directed to securing the forests out of which the large timber has been or is being cut, and which then being of no value to saw-mill proprietors may be acquired at a nominal cost.

These abandoned forests when so acquired ought to be absolutely closed so that the innumerable seedlings, saplings, rickers and spars may be secured from further damage by fires and cattle. If nature be so assisted, even to this extent, I am satisfied that we may hope for the renovation and restoration of our kauri forests. For the kauri being the most difficult of all our New Zealand trees to raise, cannot so easily be preserved for the use of future generations in any other way, and under any other conditions than those which nature has provided in its native habitat.

Much may be done by transplanting kauri and other seedlings in the denuded kauri forests; and in order to encourage the growth of seedlings it is very important that Government should arrange with saw-mill proprietors to leave standing at frequent intervals kauri trees of ripe timber, so that by the dropping of their cones, and by means of the kaka and other native seed-eating birds, a constant supply of seedlings may be secured. It is hardly necessary again to observe that the kauri will not grow south of the 38th parallel of latitude.

I have before observed that one fruitful source of the destruction of forests arises from fires. These fires are greatly encouraged by the heads of the kauri trees being left to decay and so providing ready fuel for fires kindled by the careless hands of the bushmen and others. It is useless to expect saw-mill proprietors or their contractors to incur an expense of two or three pounds per tree to put kauri heads with their massive branches out of harm's way. But if it can be shown that these heads and branches can be utilised so as to give them a commercial value representing a considerable percentage of the value of the trunk of the tree the difficulty of dealing with them will disappear. Let us see whether this can be done. The kauri heads or crowns consist of three parts.

The crutch or point of insertion of the main lateral branches, varying from 10 to 25 feet in length.

The large limbs more or less crooked.

The remainder of the head consisting of smaller branches.

The crutch is cross-grained, the straight “grain” of the lower part of the tree being twisted round the “knots” into a great variety of wavy, transverse, and oblique lines, and showing what cabinet-makers call “figure.” Many

years ago I pointed out that the “crutches” would make handsome furniture. I again urge upon saw-mill proprietors, master-builders, and cabinet-makers the advantage of using the crutches. Stripped of their branches they could be floated down the driving creeks with the ordinary logs, and if “broken down” or cut into suitable boards for wainscoting and furniture, would be highly appreciated for their striking beauty.

Some of the more unique planks or boards might be cut into veneers, not only for local cabinet-makers but for export to London and elsewhere.

Some of the large limbs may be used for crooks and knees for shipbuilding, to take the place of the limbs of the pohutukawa (Metrosideros tomentosa), which are so rapidly disappearing under the constant and increasing demands of shipbuilders, or, together with the upper portion of the trunk, they may be sawn into second-class timber, used for mining purposes, or split into palings, shingles, and staves.

The smaller branches remaining may be converted into tar.

In this way one chief danger from fires would be removed, greatly to the advantage of saw-mill proprietors and of the country generally. Before I finally dismiss the kauri I may properly direct attention to the singular shrinkage, both longitudinally and laterally, of kauri timber. I have no doubt that these serious defects arise from the practice of “falling” the kauri all through the year. For ten months of the year the cells of the kauri are more or less charged with sap. To this cause probably is due the shrinkage I have noted. The brittleness and premature decay of three-fourths of the kauri timber arises from this cause alone. When a tree is cut down with the cells more or less charged with sap a chemical action probably takes place, which partially dissolves and destroys the cellular tissues and results in the decay of a timber in a few years, which, if felled at a proper time, would continue durable for centuries. From long observation I am satisfied that there are only two months of the year in which kauri, or indeed any trees in the North Island of New Zealand, can be cut down to prevent contraction and secure durability. These months are July and August, and of these months August is the best. Now it is not to be expected that saw-mill proprietors can find men to “fall” kauri only during these two months without having to pay very much more to the men engaged in “falling.” A very simple plan will, I think, enable them to overcome the difficulty. During these two months, July and August, let them “ring” the trees, that is cut out a ring of bark and sap 3 or 4 inches wide round all the trees they intend to cut down or “fall” during the next 12 months. This simple plan will reduce the contraction to a minimum and secure what is more important, viz, the durability of the timber. The noble kauri, the king of our New Zealand forests, is capable of producing a timber for general purposes hardly second to

that of any known tree. When properly treated, for durability, toughness, elasticity, strength, and beauty combined it is not to be surpassed. It is really a great reflection upon us that we have hitherto neglected to take any measures to secure the full economic value of the timber of this noble tree.

Under the Forests Act of 1874 Government can, without much difficulty, conserve the valuable trees, which have as yet, from their limited consumption, not been subjected to much diminution, such as the rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum), totara (Podocarpus totara), rata (Metrosideros robusta), puriri (Vitex littoralis), tanekaha (Phyllocladus trichomanoides), maire (Santalum cunninghamii), kowhai (Sophora tetraptera), mangiao (Tetranthera calicaris), and titoki (Alectryon excelsum), all of which have invaluable properties fitting them in a very high degree for various industrial purposes.

2. Having thus explained my views of forest conservation and utilization I proceed to deal with the second part of my subject, “forest creation” or “culture.” The questions which meet us at this point are:—What trees ought we to plant? Native trees, or deciduous trees and evergreen trees not natives of New Zealand?

Native trees have not as yet been extensively planted, and have not succeeded well. For many years I have planted them, but with so little success as to be more than once on the point of abandoning any further attempts. Experience has taught me, however, that though many of our native trees have been found difficult to rear, they may be successfully grown if due precautions are used. Shade and moisture (being the natural conditions of all New Zealand trees) must be artificially provided when they are transplanted into the open. And above all since the two root systems, that is, surface rootlets and the tap root, are characteristic of most of them, both must be fostered or the tree will fail. It has been too much the practice to develope the surface roots by destroying the tap root. This course lies at bottom of the great want of success so painfully apparent. When a kauri seedling of not more than two inches high, with a tap root of twice or thrice that length, is placed by a nurseryman in a pot of three inches deep the tap root is either broken or twisted into the pot in such a way as to render the young plant sickly, and it is not surprising that failure is the result. The tap root must be carefully protected. These remarks apply to the rearing of all our chief forest trees. I am satisfied that if the conditions I have laid down be observed the kauri, rimu, maire, rata, mangiao, titoki, totara, puriri, and pohutukawa will succeed. The three latter deserve particular notice, because they are more easily reared, and are more rapid growers than any of the others, besides being the handsomest and most valuable of our hardwood trees. It must not, however, be forgotten that for timber purposes most of our native trees require a century to elapse from the seedling before they will become available. For

instance every foot in diameter of a kauri represents half a century, and the average age of the kauri trees now being cut down is about 200 years. At the present rate of consumption of kauri timber it is not improbable that thirty years will exhaust the forests now held by our saw-mill proprietors (with one or two exceptions). There will of course remain the forests already acquired or being acquired by Government, and which, if firmly preserved for that time, and then judiciously worked, will yield an enormous revenue for a long period.

It will be evident from the foregoing considerations that other means than planting native trees must be resorted to if the large and constantly increasing demand for timber is to be supplied.

Deciduous trees embrace many examples of valuable timber trees, such as the oak, elm, sycamore, ash, and beech. I do not think, however, that we have the necessary conditions of climate and soil in the province of Auckland, north of the 38th parallel of latitude, suitable for the healthy development of deciduous trees. Many of these trees require a climate with cold winters, so that the activity of the five months of growth may be followed by seven months of repose.

Now, north of the 38th parallel the period of growth is much longer, and the period of repose much shorter, and we have in these altered conditions I think one reason for the marked failure of deciduous trees. One other inimical condition exists in the fern vegetation with which all our plains are covered. Deciduous trees, like artificial grasses, do not succeed on fern lands, unless the land has been “sweetened” by prior cultivation or by calcareous deposits, either artificially applied or already existing in the soil. South of the 38th parallel where the winters are more severe the vitality of the fern is not so great and grassy plains make their appearance. In such districts deciduous trees will have more of the conditions they require and will succeed better. Whether these or other causes are in operation to produce the want of success I have noticed further experience will determine. In the meantime we must look to other sources for our future supplies of timber.

Whenever Government acquire the treeless plains lying between Cambridge, on the Waikato river, and Lake Taupo, the opportunity will have come for extensive plantations of totara to be made, as, in the few existing isolated forests, such as the Waotu forest and other small patches near Lake Taupo, the totara thrives well and grows to a large size. On these grassy plateaux deciduous trees will I think succeed. In both cases belts of the Coniferæ must be planted as “nurses” to shelter the plantations of native and deciduous trees. It is not improbable if plantations of Coniferæ be established on our treeless plains that they will serve as “resting places” for birds on the wing from one distant wooded range to another. In this manner the kaka

and other birds will deposit the seeds of many native trees among the young plantations of Coniferæ, and in return will carry the seeds of the latter to the ranges clothed with native forest.

In concluding this division of forest cultivation I trust I have shown that if judicious and well-sustained efforts be made to create forests of our most valuable native trees, it is not unreasonable to hope that we shall be enabled to transmit to our descendants the wealth of timber suitable for every industrial and economic purpose which our native trees possess.

Desirable as it may be that great and sustained efforts should be made by Government to create forests of our native trees, it is, however, clear from their slow growth that they can only become useful as the forests of the far off future, and I pass on to the consideration of the important question, “What trees ought we to plant for use in the immediate future?”

After long and careful consideration I am convinced that our efforts in the direction of forest creation must be mainly directed to raise forests from the two great orders of the Eucalypti and Coniferœ.

Many of the Eucalypti succeed well on our clay soils, growing with great rapidity. One variety, the blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus), the “anti-fever tree,” has acquired an importance in Europe, India, and elsewhere, which, together with its many valuable qualities, ought to induce us to cultivate it extensively. The red gum (E. rostrata), stringy bark (E. gigantea), peppermint tree (E. amygdalina), grow to a large size and have many valuable properties. Another variety, the jarrah (E. marginata), is said to be very durable in sea water, not being subject to the attacks of the Teredo. In the province of Auckland hundreds of thousands of acres of stiff clay lands, worthless for pastoral or agricultural purposes, might be planted with varieties of Eucalypti with very great advantage.

If large tracts were thus planted great benefit would be derived by all adjacent lands which are now sterile, by rendering them much more suitable for grazing and agricultural purposes, besides yielding a large revenue at no distant date to those who plant them, whether Government or private persons.

In Mr. Vogel's Forests Act, 1874, Government obtained powers to expend £10,000 per annum in forest cultivation, etc., but failed to secure authority to take the necessary lands on which to conserve or create forests. Under these circumstances I have addressed a letter to the Colonial Secretary, pointing out that in at least one district in this province Government possesses a large tract of land admirably adapted for the cultivation of the blue gum; that district being the tract lying between Meremere and Rangiriri in the Lower Waikato. This tract of land is a stiff sterile clay and quite unsuitable for agricultural operations. It is bounded on the west by the Waikato River, and on the east by the Mercer and Ngaruawahia railway, now in course of

construction, and contains many thousand acres. It is probable that this land is rich in coal and iron, the future working of which would be greatly facilitated by the surface being covered with a class of timber well suited for mining purposes. I have pointed out to the Colonial Secretary that, apart from this prospective advantage, the covering of these bleak hills with forest would enable the Government in a few years to supply by river and road the treeless Upper Waikato country with timber for fencing and other purposes, practically inexhaustible. Though I have chiefly directed attention to the blue gum, that is not because the great order of the Eucalypti, with its 150 varieties, has not many trees suitable for this colony, but that the Eucalyptus globulus is a proved success amongst us.

I now invite your attention to the great natural order of the Coniferœ. As I have already stated, my own experience has taught me that whilst our fern lands will not, from their “sourness,” grow the deciduous trees to any advantage unless the land is well cultivated, these same fern lands (if of a sandy or loamy nature) will grow the Coniferœ most luxuriantly without any previous tillage. Perhaps I shall best illustrate this by describing the results I have obtained in pine cultivation at Matamata. I shall not weary you with the story of my many attempts and of my many failures before I finally succeeded. I shall shortly tell you what I have done and how I have done it. Four years ago I sowed the seeds of P. insignis, P. radiata, P. maritima and other varieties of the Coniferœ in my garden at Matamata. I then fenced in the tract of fern land I intended to plant. Burning off the fern I opened out with a single-furrow plough a furrow right and left, thus leaving a double furrow 18 inches wide and 4 inches deep. I then put a subsoil plough into this broad furrow, stirring the subsoil for 9 inches more. I repeated this operation at equal distances of 12 feet over the piece of land I intended to plant. When the pine seedlings were ready to plant (July) I put a man to make holes at 9 feet apart down the centre of each double furrow. This he did with an ordinary 1 1/2 inch crowbar, which he held by one end in both hands vertically before him. Dropping the lower end of the crowbar into the subsoil and giving it a circular turn he drew it out, having made a conical hole 9 inches deep and 3 inches wide at top. Stepping on three paces he repeated the operation until he came to the end of the double furrow. He then returned along the second furrow making holes as before, and so on till holes were made in all the furrows. A dray was then sent to the seed beds, and passing a spade under the end of the first drill a spadefull of seedlings was lifted and placed carefully in the bottom of the dray, repeating the operation till the bottom of the dray was covered. The dray was then sent to the ground already prepared. Five men were each provided with a pouch made from a 1001b flour bag by cutting down the upper half of the bag.

Thus cut down, the bag or pouch was tied round the waist. A spadefull of seedlings was soon placed in each pouch, and each man took a furrow, putting a seedling into the first hole in his furrow. Drawing the earth round the seedling with his hands and then pressing the foot round the seedling the operation was completed, and so on till the whole piece was planted. By this mode six men made the holes and planted two acres each per day.

Three years have elapsed since this piece was planted; not more than five per cent. of the seedlings have failed, all the rest have succeeded admirably. The Pinus insignis shows most growth. Some of these had attained a height of ten feet, and yet in the same land all the deciduous trees have failed. I can only account for the vigorous growth of the Coniferœ from the fact, well known to geologists and naturalists, that the natural succession of plants is first mosses, next ferns, and then Coniferœ. It will be seen that I have not adopted the usual plan of transplanting the seedlings for one or two successive years into fresh beds, known as “establishing” the plants. Some nurserymen after the first transplanting pass the spade under the young plants to cut off the tap root. By this system the tap root is weakened and the surface roots developed. This plan probably renders the transmission of the “established” plants more easy, and may answer for trees planted merely in shrubberies for ornament. But if the object be to plant a forest, no system could be more fatal. The same remark applies to the treatment of native seedlings obtained from our forests. Most of these have tap roots, and if these are cut, broken, or cramped in pots, failure will be the necessary result. All the Coniferœ, and indeed most trees of large size, are provided with tap roots to take deep and firm hold of the ground, to enable their lofty trunks of from 100 to 200 feet high to resist the enormous pressure to which they are exposed by heavy gales of wind.

I have before stated my opinion, and I reiterate it here, that the forests in this part of the colony for use in the immediate future—say after the next thirty years—must be mainly of the Eucalypti and Coniferœ families, as representing hard and soft woods for general purposes. Information as to the varieties of the Coniferœ likely to succeed best in this colony being desirable, I have prepared from various sources the following list, showing the native habitat, heights and qualities of about fifty varieties. Nearly all of them will, I think, succeed well throughout the colony, but most of them prefer a sandy, loamy soil. As to the quality of their timber, I give that, as far as possible, as found in their native habitat: Most of them will doubtless undergo considerable alteration in this respect in this colony, the timber of some being improved, of others deteriorated.

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