Line 0.0.0 FORESTRY

Line 0.0.1 MAN'S DEPENDENCE ON TREES.

Line 0.0.2 THE WORLD'S FORESTS DEPLET-

Line 0.0.3 ED.

Line 0.0.4 CONSERVATION ESSENTIAL TO

Line 0.0.5 AUSTRALIA'S FUTURE.

Line 0.0.6 SOME VICTORIAN TREES.

Line 0.0.7 At a recent meeting of the Sand-

Line 0.0.8 ringham A.N.A., Mr. Owen Jones, an

Line 0.0.9 officer of the Agricultural Depart-

Line 0.0.10 men, who has studied Forestry in

Line 0.0.11 many parts of the world said man

Line 0.0.12 was indebted to the forest from his

Line 0.0.13 cradle to the grave. Timber affected

Line 0.0.14 all human activities. Everything pro-

Line 0.0.15 duced was carted to market through

Line 0.0.16 wood—the containers were of wood,

Line 0.0.17 also the waggons, even the trains ran

Line 0.0.18 on wooden sleepers. The city would

Line 0.0.19 starve if there were no forests—

Line 0.0.20 houses, furniture, ships, trams, rail-

Line 0.0.21 way carriages, buses, pianos, cricket,

Line 0.0.22 tents, billiards, were all dependent

Line 0.0.23 to some extent on wood—even the

Line 0.0.24 newspapers we read were made from

Line 0.0.25 wood pulp. Telephone wires had to

Line 0.0.26 be carried on wooden poles, and oil,

Line 0.0.27 resin, gum, eucalyptus, formalin,

Line 0.0.28 acetic acid, creosote, were all forest

Line 0.0.29 products.

Line 0.0.30 The State forests provided half a

Line 0.0.31 million tons of firewood a year,

Line 0.0.32 gave the cities their drinking

Line 0.0.33 water and made irrigation possible.

Line 0.0.34 There being no central mountain

Line 0.0.35 range we were doependent on natural

Line 0.0.36 ralnfall and forests as cover to act

Line 0.0.37 as a sponge and soak it up. The de-

Line 0.0.38 nudation of watersheds meant floods

Line 0.0.39 and Mr Jones showed lantern slides

Line 0.0.40 to illustrate how the soil is washed

Line 0.0.41 down, leaving worthless rocky subsoil

Line 0.0.42 on the hillsides.

Line 0.0.43 Victoria imported as much timber

Line 0.0.44 as she produced and paid for it with

Line 0.0.45 wheat and wool taken off the cleared

Line 0.0.46 land. For many reasons it was

Line 0.0.47 doubtful if this was a wise policy.

Line 0.0.48 We cannot pursue that course in-

Line 0.0.49 definitely. The world's supply of

Line 0.0.50 soft woods was depleted and every

Line 0.0.51 country would have to provide

Line 0.0.52 against shortage. There was so

Line 0.0.53 much destruction that the consump-

Line 0.0.54 tion exceeds the growth. Australia

Line 0.0.55 cannot rely on other countries to

Line 0.0.56 supply her needs and must become

Line 0.0.57 self-supporting to assure her future

Line 0.0.58 prosperity. The aid of forestry must

Line 0.0.59 be called in. The British communities

Line 0.0.60 were notoriously the most apathetic

Line 0.0.61 towards forestry, largely because the

Line 0.0.62 effects of forest destruction had not

Line 0.0.63 been severely felt. The forest is

Line 0.0.64 a crop and only yields satisfactory

Line 0.0.65 results through satisfactory care and

Line 0.0.66 attention. True conservation means

Line 0.0.67 care in this generation and persever-

Line 0.0.68 ance for future generations.

Line 0.0.69 In Victoria there was a forest

Line 0.0.70 nursery at Creswick and scenes were

Line 0.0.71 shown depicting half a dozen em-

Line 0.0.72 ployees picking out young plants for

Line 0.0.73 dispatch. Other views were shown of

Line 0.0.74 a young forest plantation in various

Line 0.0.75 stages of growth, near Ballarat, in-

Line 0.0.76 cluding a Canary Island Pine, fine

Line 0.0.77 timber, but difficult to grow. Another

Line 0.0.78 forest shown was in the You Yangs

Line 0.0.79 and ready for cutting. Golden Wattle

Line 0.0.80 was cultivated for its bark for tan-

Line 0.0.81 ning purposes and an order for 2000

Line 0.0.82 poles from the Postal Department

Line 0.0.83 showed the valuable nature of the

Line 0.0.84 Sugar Gum. A fine 33 year old Cy-

Line 0.0.85 press at Macedon was flashed on

Line 0.0.86 the screen, followed by a view of

Line 0.0.87 tailings spread over the Ovens River

Line 0.0.88 Valley, regarded as waste land, but

Line 0.0.89 brought into productivity for forest

Line 0.0.90 growing. Valuable forests were ruin-

Line 0.0.91 ed by wasteful cutting. The work of

Line 0.0.92 replanting was expensive, but payed

Line 0.0.93 in the long run. Old natural forests

Line 0.0.94 were treated by taking out diseased

Line 0.0.95 crooked and deformed trees and lea-

Line 0.0.96 ving only the most promising. The

Line 0.0.97 timber, firewood and rubbish were

Line 0.0.98 taken off, leaving a forest of straight

Line 0.0.99 young boles, until they started to

Line 0.0.100 bring in revenue for poles, milling

Line 0.0.101 timber and piles.

Line 0.0.102 A fine block of Murray Pine was

Line 0.0.103 intercepted by a wide fire belt, which

Line 0.0.104 Mr Owen Jones explained, would not

Line 0.0.105 stop a forest fire, but enabled the

Line 0.0.106 foresters to get in and burn back to

Line 0.0.107 the advancing flames.

Line 0.0.108 Fires followed good growths of

Line 0.0.109 grass in good country. There were

Line 0.0.110 no forests in the Mallee and the set-

Line 0.0.111 tlers there depended on the forests

Line 0.0.112 elsewhere for their fencing and tim-

Line 0.0.113 ber. Only seven per cent. of Vic-

Line 0.0.114 toria was forest area and it is general-

Line 0.0.115 ly recognised that 25 per cent. is

Line 0.0.116 the minimum of a country's safety.

Line 0.0.117 The population is growing and un-

Line 0.0.118 less reserves were provided now it

Line 0.0.119 will be difficult to meet the re-

Line 0.0.120 quirements of the future. If Vic-

Line 0.0.121 toria imported as much as she pro-

Line 0.0.122 duced with a population of 1½ mil-

Line 0.0.123 lions, what will she do with a

Line 0.0.124 population of 10 millions.

Line 0.0.125 Mountain Ash, grown extensively

Line 0.0.126 in the Warburton district, was Vic-

Line 0.0.127 toria's principal milling timber, and

Line 0.0.128 deputed with Californian Redwood

Line 0.0.129 the honor of being the tallest in the

Line 0.0.130 world. Many large trees were used

Line 0.0.131 as buggy sheds, stables, etc., but the

Line 0.0.132 record was held by one that was

Line 0.0.133 used as a church.

Line 0.0.134 There were many types of forest

Line 0.0.135 and there were apparent differences

Line 0.0.136 between the hill and foothill trees.

Line 0.0.137 The view shown was of young Mess-

Line 0.0.138 mate at Macedon, which grew on the

Line 0.0.139 lower hills of the Divide were dense

Line 0.0.140 and very straight. White Stringy-

Line 0.0.141 bark was useful for heavy construc-

Line 0.0.142 tion work, whilst Silver-top was ex-

Line 0.0.143 tensively used for making paper

Line 0.0.144 pulp, and grew largely in East Gipps-