Forestry in South Africa

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From u SCIENCE* IN* SOUTH X'FRICA.*'
August, 1905.

FORESTRY IX SOUTH AFRICA.

BY

D. E. HUTCHINS, F.R.MET.Soc., Conservator of Forests,

Cape Town.

FORESTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA.

BY D. E. HUTCHINS, F.R.MET.Soc., CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS,

CAPE TOWN.

THE INDIGENOUS TIMBER TREES.

" / am as certain as I stand here that Nature intended wide tracts
of South Africa to be forest country." — (Lord Milner's farewell
speech, Johannesburg, March 3ist, 1905.)

Of the great variety of indigenous trees in South Africa only
three have much importance for timber, and two for the peculiar
value of their wood. The six chief trees are : —

j Podocarpus elongata. — The large or Outeniqua Yellowwood.

j Podocarpus thunbergii. — The small or Upright Yellowwood.
Ocotea bullata. — Stinkwood.
Olea lauri folia. — Black Iron wood.
Pteroxylon tittle. — Sneezewood.
Callitris arborea. — The Clanwilliam Cedar.

Of these, the two Yellowwoods yielded nearly all the house-
building timber used by the early settlers in the Colony for many
years ; and Yellowwood still represents about three-quarters
of the commercial timber in the belt of dense indigenous forest
which stretches in a much broken belt along the slopes of the
coast mountains from Cape Town to the north-east of the Transvaal.
From Yellowwood being the only large timber tree, the dense
evergreen indigenous forest of South Africa is commonly known
as the " Yellowwood forest." In recent years the Knysna forests
have yielded 100,000 Yellowwood sleepers yearly for the Cape
Government Railways. Yellowwood sleepers when creosoted
are not surpassed by Jarrah, creosoted Baltic pine, or any sleeper
known, but it is as a flooring board that Yellowwood timber finds
its most valued use.

Ocotea bullata (Stinkwood). — The timber of this tree has a higher
value than that of any other timber in the indigenous forest.
Stinkwood, however, is rarely a large tree, and the timber is chiefly
used for furniture and in wagon-making. Stinkwood furniture is
most beautiful, but its cost confines it, at present, to the houses of
the wealthy.

Olea laurifolia (Black Ironwood). — This tree reaches the stature
of a medium-sized or large timber tree, but the wood is excessively
hard and not durable in the ground. It is chiefly used for wagon-
making and is occasionally exported as an ornamental hardwood.

2 SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Pteroxylon ittile (Sneezewood). — This is usually a small tree
with a very hard timber, but the timber is almost imperishable
in the ground, so that it is highly valued for fencing poles.

Callitris arbor ea. — The Clanwilliam Cedar holds the first rank
for general usefulness amongst the indigenous timbers. It is as
easy to work as Baltic pine, it seasons well, and is very durable.
It has a sweet lasting fragrance surpassed by no other Cedar,
In growth this Cedar much resembles the Atlas Cedar of North
Africa. The timber of Callitris arbor ea is more highly scented
and more durable than that of Cedrus atlantica. Unfortunately
Cape Cedar has been so destroyed in the past that its forest has at
present no commercial value.

There are three other species of Callitris in South Africa. C.
cupressoides is usually shrubby. C. whytei barely comes south of
the Zambesi. C. schwartzii is a newly described species whose
capabilities are not yet fully known. It may prove not to differ
greatly from the tree form of Callitris cupressoides.

Apodytes dimidiata (White Pear) j_ Medium-sized trees prized

Curtisia faginea (Assegai) ) for wagon-making.

Goniami kamassi. — Kamasi is a Boxwood substitute expor ed
from Knysna.

Buxus macowani is a second-rate Boxwood formerly exported
to some extent from East London.

Olea verucosa. — The common " Wild Olive " furnishes a good
fencing post. The European Olive can easily be grafted on it.

Leucadendron argenteum. — The Silver Tree has practically no
timber value. It is not known to occur naturally farther than
fifty miles away from Cape Town.

There are in the Yellowwood forest altogether about 108 species'
of trees ; but these, with the exception of those mentioned above,
have little commercial value. They are occasionally brought
into use for fencing poles, wagon-wood, etc., and all are employed
on the eastern side of the Colony, in building Kafir huts.

With the exception of the Clanwilliam Cedar the indigenous-
timber trees are of weak natural reproduction and difficult artificial
propagation. The indigenous timbers are also of slow growth
and of delicate constitution. It is difficult to obtain seed of Sneeze-
wood ; it is impossible to procure any satisfactory supply of Stink-
wood seed. Hence the improvement of the indigenous forest is no
easy matter. The stock of commercial timber in the indigenous
forest probably does not average above one-twentieth a full stock,
and in the more accessible portions it is less. Instances have occurred
where the total stock of timber in a good indigenous forest was only
equal to one year's growth of timber in a Eucalypt plantation
yielding a first-class hardwood, such as Ironbark. The value of
the standing timber in the indigenous forest, taken at 3d. per
cubic foot, may be averaged at :—

Forests of Cape Colony . . . . £6 per acre.

» N'atal £5 „ „

„ Transvaal £4 „

FORESTRY. 3

It is certain that without the assistance of the picked timber
trees of larger forest floras, Forestry in South Africa could never
be the remunerative business it now is. Which of the introduced
trees is best fitted to re-stock and restore the indigenous forest
is still an unsolved problem.

I have mentioned that the Clanwilliam Cedar is an exception
to the difficult propagation, the slow growth, and the delicate
constitution of the indigenous trees generally. Unfortunately,
that tree will not thrive away from its home in the rugged Cedar-
berg country— an area of 150 or 200 square miles on the western
side of the sub-continent, situated 120 miles due north of Cape
Town. The re-foresting of this area has been pushed forward
as rapidly as the slender provision of funds has allowed of. Fires
have been restrained, goat-grazing stopped, and only dead Cedar
trees are now allowed to be felled, while 81,000 trees have been
planted over 94 acres by the inexpensive process of plowing
the ground and sowing the seed broadcast. Seed is obtainable
as easily as Pine seed, and the growth of the young Cedars is as fast
as that of the Cluster-pine on the Cape Flats. Such Cedar timber
as is obtainable from dry trees sells easily in Cape Town for the
same price as Stinkwood or Teak. No doubt in the future Clan-
william Cedar will largely replace the costly imported Teak, but
since the Cedar will not flourish away from the rigorous climate of
its snowy mountains, it can play but a restricted part in the general
re-foresting of the country. Hence the supreme importance of
the introduced timber trees to the South African Forester.

THE INTRODUCED TIMBER TREES.

Some of the finest timber trees of the Northern Hemisphere
have now been under cultivation in South Africa for 200 years,
and may reasonably be considered to be completely naturalised.
Most of them show an abundant natural reproduction from seed,
and they flourish in localities where drought, frost and parching
winds are a complete bar to the cultivation of the delicate indigenous
trees. It is of course necessary to see that in their new home they
are properly fitted to the climate — winter rainfall trees (such as
those of the Mediterranean) to a winter rainfall climate ; summer
rainfall trees to a summer rainfall climate ; all-the-year-round
rainfall trees to an all-the-year-round rainfall climate ; inland
trees to an inland climate ; and coast trees to a coastal climate.
Hence, to the South African Forester, the prime importance of the
study of climatology. The following trees are those which have
shown themselves to be most hardy and useful in South Africa.

Finns pinaster (Cluster-pine). — Grows like a weed along the
southern coast of Cape Colony, wherever there is a good rainfall ;
particularly on the coast mountains and on the plains of the south-
west, where there are winter rains and a Mediterranean climate.
It is now being largely propagated for sleepers and firewood by the
Forest Department. About 8 tons of seed are used yearly in these
operations. For an account of the remarkable growth of this tree

SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

FORESTRY. 5

on the Caledon Mountains see a pamphlet by the author, entitled
"Cluster Pine at Genadendal," reprinted in 1904.

Pinus pinea (Stone-pine). — This tree seems to have been intro-
duced by the early settlers before the Cluster-pine. About the
old farms there are some noble specimens of this picturesque tree,
with its flat umbrella top, so strongly recalling Southern Italy.
Unfortunately, about thirty years ago it was attacked by a fungoid
disease which has been pronounced to be a species of Peronospora.
This disease has almost exterminated the Stone-pine, and has
led to its being placed entirely outside the operations of the Forest
Department.

Quercus pedunculata (English Oak). — This is a favourite tree
around the homesteads of the early Dutch settlers in the south-west
of Cape Colony, and it has been planted with success within the heavy
rainfall area of the eastern mountains, particularly along the Ama-
tolas, north of King William's Town. It does not flourish in the
drier parts of the Colony, but in all the more fertile parts it is highly
prized for its incomparable beauty in Spring and its heavy yield of
acorns. To the farmers the acorns are a valuable crop; indeed, it has
been truly said that the Oak in South Africa is more a fruit than a
timber tree. The Oak in South Africa bears acorns abundantly
every year, and these acorns average almost double the size of those
commonly seen in England and northern Europe. The foliage of
the Cape Oak is also denser than that of the same tree in Northern
Europe.

Populus alba (White Poplar). — This tree was probably one of
the first to be introduced to South Africa, and is now completely
naturalised, in vleys and damp places from Cape Town to the
Northern Transvaal. The Poplar bush is a standing institution in
many up-country farms, and the Poplar in South Africa furnishes
a light useful timber for farm purposes and second-rate house
building.

Populus nigra (Black Poplar). — This tree has also been long
introduced to South Africa, but it is less hardy and less wide-spread
than the White Poplar. It is usually seen in the form of the Lom-
bardy Poplar, and as such is used as a break-wind in the vineyards
and fruit orchards of the South-west of Cape Colony.

Populus monilifera has been introduced more recently, but it
seems quite at home, and is very fast growing.

Eucalyptus globulus (Blue-gum). — This was not introduced to
South Africa till 1828, but is now the most wide-spread and generally
hardy tree on the sub-continent. From Cape Town to the Northern
Transvaal, wherever trees are planted, the Blue-gum will be seen
generally occupying the largest space. It commends itself to
farmers on account of its hardiness and rapid growth. But the
efforts of the Forest Department are now directed to replacing it
by other Eucalypts which may be equally quick-growing and pro-
duce a timber of superior value.

Eucalypts Generally. — Of the 150 odd species of Eucalypts
nearly all have now been planted in South Africa. There are nearly

6 SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

JOG species in the Government arboreta at Tokai. Of these among
the most valuable for sleepers and general use as hard woods may
be mentioned Eucalyptus pilularis, the fastest grower known in the
Cape Peninsula, E. microcorys or Tallowwood, E. resinifem, yielding
a jarrah-like timber, E. paniculata, an Ironbark, and E. saligna.
The above are being planted on a large scale for the production of
sleepers, for which item alone Cape Colony has now to spend yearly
£100,000, most of this money going to Australia. After the Blue-
gum the tree that has been most widely planted is E. tereticornis,
commonly known in South Africa as the Red Gum. Up-country
it flourishes at all elevations, from Johannesburg at 6,000 feet to
Delagoa Bay, where it may be seen growing with Cocoa-nut Palms
and other tropical trees. E. maculata flourishes on poor soils within
the summer-rainfall areas of the sub-continent, and the closely-
allied E. citriodora, with its scented foliage, in the warmer parts of
the same region. Of Iron-barks, the pearl of Eucalypt timbers,
E paniculata has given the best results near the coast, and E.
sideroxylon inland. E. paniculata is one of the fastest-growing
Eucalypts in South Africa, and a hardwood of unsurpassed ex-
cellence. Other valuable Eucalypts being largely propagated are
Eucalyptus diversicolor or Kari, a hardy free-grower, and one of the
giant trees of the world in its home in West Australia. E. margi-
nata, the West Australian Jarrah, has not proved to be one of the
most profitable of the Eucalypts to plant for timber, though it
grows well enough in its own climate in the south-west of Cape
Colony. Eucalyptus corynocalyx, or Sugar-gum, is a tree recently
introduced to the drier districts, and growing with great success at
Robertson and elsewhere. It also produces a first-class timber.
Other Eucalypts suited to the drier parts of the country are Euca-
lyptus tereticornis, E. leucoxylon, E. hemiphloia, and the two Cool-
gardie gums from West Australia ; E. salmonophloia and E.
sdlnbris. E. polyanthemos is the Eucalypt that has proved hardiest
against frost and drought in the severe climates of the high South
African plateaux. All the above Eucalypts are being planted on a
large scale in the Government timber plantations.

Pines. — Most of the extra-tropical pines are now being grown
by the Forest Department. Of the Pines recently introduced the
most promising appears to be Pinus canariensis. The timber of
this tree is justly esteemed at a high value in the Canary Islands.
On the southern mountains of Cape Colony it appears to rival the
Cluster-pine in hardiness and quickness of growth. It is also being
successfully planted in Natal and the Transvaal.

Pinus insignis. — This handsome Pine has been largely planted
in recent years in South Africa. It is only climatically suited,
however, to the winter rainfall districts, and the wholesale planting
of this tree in Natal and the Transvaal has produced disappoint-
ment. This is a large, rapidly-growing tree, particularly at first.

Other Pines being planted more or less extensively are Pinus
halepensis or Jerusalem Pine, P. muricata and other Calif ornian
Pines, the two Japanese Pines P. thunbergii and P. densi flora,

FORESTRY. 7

together with the four Pitch Pines of the Gulf States of the United
States of America, P. australis, P. mitis, P. cubensis and P. taeda.
The Mexican and Chinese Pines remain for trial in the summer-
rainfall, high-plateau country — Transvaal, Orangia, Basutoland,
Transkei and Natal.

Cypresses : Junipers and Cedars generally. — Trees of the genus
Cupressus, with their valuable Cedar-like durable timbers, have
naturally not escaped the notice of the Forest Department, but
their planting is somewhat restricted by considerations of expense.
They grow slowly, more especially at first, and are frequently costly
to establish. There are, however, extensive areas under Cypress
at Tokai, Ceres Road, Fort Cunynghame, and elsewhere in the
Government timber plantations. The Cypress that has been most
largely planted (and often out of its climatic habitat) is Cupressus
macrocarpa. This rapidly becomes a tree of much beauty.
Cupressus guadalupensis may almost be looked upon as the hardy,
drought-resistant form of C. macrocarpa. The planting of this
tree is rapidly extending. Quite equal to C. macrocarpa, however,
is C. lusitanica, which, under various names, has been extensively
planted throughout South Africa, and, judging from its natural
reproduction, it seems to have become naturalised in the Transvaal,
Natal and Cape Colony. C. goveniana, C. lindleyana, and C. torulosa
have also been planted to a less extent.

Junipers. — These trees yielding the Cedar of commerce have
naturally claimed the first attention in an extra- tropical country.
Juniperus virginiana has proved extremely hardy, but it seems too
slow-growing to produce timber economically, and the same is true
with regard to /. bermudiana, J. chinensis, J. mexicana.

J . foetidissima and /. procera remain for trial on the plateau
country. I have lately received from Dr. Perez seed of the almost
extinct Juniperus cedrus of the Canaries. Altogether there are
some fifteen or twenty Junipers under trial in the Government
plantations of the Cape and the Transvaal.

Cedrus. — Cedrus deodar a is being planted on a large scale in the
Transvaal, where it shows an excellent growth.

Taxodium. — T. dystichum has given but poor results, even on
swampy ground, in Cape Colony. It promises better in the Trans-
vaal. The Mexican T. mucronatum awaits seed for trial planting
in the Transvaal.

Callitris. — Eight or ten Australia species are under trial. C.
robusta and C. calcarata seem the most promising.

Cedrela. — Several species are under cultivation in the warmer
summer-rainfall climates, but the proper testing of this most valu-
able genus of all the Cedars has as yet scarcely begun.

Wattles. — The so-called Wattles of Australia belonging to
various species of Acacia form an extremely valuable forest resource.
Their exact utility lies in the production of tan bark and in their
rapid and early yield of small wood for fuel. Of the Wattles
planted, the best known are the Black Wattle in Natal (described
under " Natal ") and the plantations of Acacia saligna and A.

8 SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

•pvcminthn in the south-west of Cape Colony. A, saligna (sometimes
called Port Jackson Wattle) grows like a weed on the Cape Flats and
elsewhere in the south-west of Cape Colony, and it furnishes a bark
which has been largely used by the Cape Town tanners, and which
bark contains up to 23 per cent, of tannin. The Wattle, however,
which yields the largest percentage of bark, surpassing even the
Black Wattle, is A, pycnantha, or the Golden Wattle of South
Australia. This is now being grown on the Cape Flats and else-
where in the Government plantations. It nourishes throughout
the whole region of winter rains from Cape Town to Knysna, and
should be more largely planted than it is by farmers. Wattles
yielding a return in from five to seven years can be produced by
private enterprise and have thus not been so largely planted in the
Government State Forests.

These are the most important of the introduced trees now being
planted for timber in South Africa. Many more are being grown ;
the range of choice in the extra-tropics is wide. It would be im-
possible here to even mention by name all that are being and have
been tested by the Forest Department. Of trees not falling within
the four chief classes — Eucalypts, Pines, Cedars and Wattles — there
are such valuable timbers as Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), Cali-
fornian Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Camphor (Cinnamomum
camphora), several species of Podocarpus and Araucaria, and others
which cannot even be mentioned here.

FORESTRY IN CAPE COLONY.

The forests of extra-tropical South Africa occupy but a small
portion of its area, and are still less fitted to supply the wants
of the country in timber. This had long been recognised. As
early as 1819 there was a Superintendent of Lands and Woods
at Cape Town. In 1876 Forests and Plantations were constituted
a separate department of the Ministerial Division, its principal
officers corresponding directly with the Ministerial office. The
chief forest officer was then at Knysna. At last in 1881 a separate
Forest Department was organised, and the Cape Government
obtained the services of an eminent French forester, the Count de
Vasselot, as head of the Cape Forest Department. This gentleman
had obtained his professional training in the French National
Forest School at Nancy (than which there is no better), and had
since obtained distinction by particularly good work in connection
with the great re-foresting operations in Gascony. The work
there was with Cluster-pine (Pinus pinaster], which is at the same
time the pine that has been most largely employed in the pine
plantations of South Africa. Count de Vasselot made a forest
tour through the country, and his recommendations after this tour
will be found in the valuable report which was translated and
presented to Parliament in 1882. This report should be referred
to by those who may wish for further information on the position
of Cape Forestry at that time. In 1883 the writer, who had
also been trained at Nancy, arrived from India, and was

FORESTRY. 9

subsequently transferred from the Indian to the Cape Forest
Service. By 1884 the newly-formed Forest Department
had got to work, the oldest of the western plantations
being founded by Mr. J S. Lister, now Conservator of Forests in
charge of the Eastern Conservancy. The Cape Forest Department
may thus be said by now (1905) to have had twenty clear years
working existence. During that time the timber plantations near
Cape Town, the chief Colonial market, have been largely extended,
more especially recently with the object of supplying sleepers to
the railways. At the same time the " high- timber " indigenous
forest of the country has been demarcated, and the wasteful system
under which it was formerly worked replaced by systematic fellings
under the supervision of competent Forest Officers.

For administrative purposes Cape Colony is divided into four
Conservancies, each in charge of a Conservator of Forests, the
Conservator stationed at Cape Town having at the same time
consultive functions on technical matters.

As soon as the forests had been demarcated, it was seen that a
Forest Act was 'necessary to give effect to the demarcations, and
to regulate and enforce the working of the forests. In i885 I
submitted a draft iounded on the Madras Forest Act of 1882,
and in 1888 was passed the Cape Forest Act, No. 28 of
1888, which has since been in force, and which has has
served as a model for other Colonial forest legislation, not in
South Africa only. In 1902 this Act was strengthened and amended
in certain particulars, the chief of these being a provision which
requires that the National Forests cannot be alienated, nor any
forest rights granted, without the previous sanction of both Houses
of the Legislature. Further measures may be necessary in order
to entirely safeguard the forests from the loss to which they are
liable as long as they remain under political control.

The total cost of forest work during the last twenty- two years
in Cape Colony has been over three quarters of a million pounds
sterling, of which sum more than a quarter of a million pounds
sterling has been spent on the timber plantations in the neighbour-
hood of Cape Town and the south-west. There is a total Forest
Staff of twenty-six (Conservators and their assistants) in the upper
grades, and eighty-four European Foresters, besides a few native
guards in the Native Territories.

It was early recognised that an efficient Forest Staff required
that the superior officers should have a technical training beyond
what was obtainable in South Africa. In 1892, Mr. C. B. McNaugh-
ton, the present Conservator at Knysna, was sent for a special
course of training to the Cooper's Hill Forest School in England,
and he has since been followed by four others, all of these, except
Mr. K. Carlson (at present Conservator in the Orange River Colony),
obtaining a grant from Government which averaged som what
less than half their total expenses. Partly on account of the high
cost of this training, the last Forest Officer sent from the Cape
for his professional training has proceeded to the American Forest.

1O SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

School at Yale; and he has been joined by a forest apprentice from
Orangia. But for the obstacle presented by a foreign language,
the training at Nancy is that which would best satisfy the require-
ments of Cape students ; since, in the South of France most of the
trees now cultivated in the timber plantations of Cape Colony
are to be met with, and the climatic and fire-conserving conditions
resemble those in Cape Colony. In view of the fact, however,
that there is no English speaking forest school devoted entirely to
extra-tropical forestry, the expense of sending forest students
abroad, and the increasing demand for forest education in South
Africa, the project of a South African Forest School has been
recently revived, and has obtained the serious consideration of
Lord Milner and the South African Governments.

The policy of the Cape Forest Department may be said to have
two chief objects : —

(1) Production at home of the timber now imported from
abroad. This is to be accomplished by conserving and improving
the indigenous forest, and by forming plantations of the most
valuable trees of other countries, near the railways and chief centres
of Colonial consumption.

(2) The furtherance of general tree-planting in a nearly treeless
country, by advice and assistance to landowners and the public.
The principal trees planted have been sketched above. It
remains only to mention that the cause of tree-planting generally
is assisted ; by professional advice in the form of pamphlets, lectures,
and visits to the forest centres ; and by practical aid in the issue of
young trees and seeds to the public at cost price. In round numbers,
550,000 young trees are issued yearly to the public at an average
price of about fd. each, each of these trees being securely rooted
in a planting tray. These planting trays are formed of old paraffin
tins cut lengthways. During the last ten years the average value
of the plants and seeds sold to the public has amounted to £1,844.
These figures are rapidly increasing, thus during the last year in
the Western Conservancy the sales amounted to £3,859.

Under Act 4 of 1876, one half the cost of all the tree-planting
done by Municipalities and Divisional (County) Councils (up to a
limit of £250 in one year) is re-imbursed by Government. The
administration of the tree-planting grants made under this Act,
rests with the Forest Department, as also the adjudication of the
special grants sometimes made to private tree-planters.

THE GOVERNMENT TIMBER PLANTATIONS.

The total expenditure on forest work since the Forest Depart-
ment was organised on its present basis in 1883 amounts to £778,000 ;
of which £293,000 has been spent on the large plantations near
Cape Town and on Forestry in the south-west of Cape Colony ; and
£485,000 on plantations and Forestry elsewhere in Cape Colony.
The large timber plantations are situated near the chief Colonial
markets, and either on or close to, lines of railway. The trees
planted are Eucalypts, Pines, and a lesser quantity of Cedar and other

FORESTRY. II

trees. The best known of these western plantations is that at
Tokai, which runs along the Table Mountain range from the
boundaries of the Muizenberg Municipality to Constantia. The total
area there planted to date is 2,371 acres, at a nett cost of £28,791,
so that the average cost of planting has been £12 35. per acre.
The revenue from this plantation up to December, 1904, was
£16,766. The total area of the estate is 6,475 acres. Planting began
twenty-one years ago, in 1884. A preliminary valuation of the timber
made in 1900 worked it out to a total of £51,825. The revenue re-
alised from this plantation varies from half to two-thirds of the
expenditure, and this revenue is obtained from the sale of plants,
seeds and thinnings, none of the main crop being yet fit to cut, so
that the financial results of this plantation cannot be considered
otherwise than satisfactory. In the best portions of the estate the
growth of timber is scarcely exceeded in any portion of the world.
Thus, from a thirteen-year-old plot of Kari, Eucalyptus diversicolor
(Prinz Kasteel block) there has been a mean yearly yield of timber
amounting to 625 cubic feet. From a six-year-old plot of Kari
on Cedar Ridge there has been a mean yearly production of limber
amounting to 533 cubic feet. And similarly, another block
of Kari on Manor House Ridge has yielded a figure of 377 cubic
feet. The largest trees on the plantation are some particularly
fine specimens, now over 100 feet high, of Eucalyptus saligna.
These, at eighteen years old, showed a mean yearly production of
timber (acrim) amounting to 527 cubic feet. When one considers
that the best yielding forests in Europe — the Spruce and Silver-fir
of Saxony do not average more than 150 cubic feet per acre per
year, it will be seen how satisfactory is the growth of timber at
Tokai.

At Ceres Road, 84 miles from Cape Town on the main line of
railway, is another large Government timber plantation, which,
with the addition of the adjoining sleeper plantation, has nearly
the same area as Tokai, viz., 6,000 acres. The trees planted here
and the results obtained are similar to those at Tokai.

There is a further large Government plantation on the Cape Flats,
also amounting to about the same area, viz., 6,000 acres. Here,
the soil being poor and sandy, the trees planted are almost entirely
tan Wattles and Cluster-pine. The tan Wattle used is mainly
Acacia saligna, though a little of the more valuable A. pycnantha
has been planted of late years. For the last thirteen years, how-
ever, the planting on this plantation has been confined to Cluster-
pine, designed to produce sleepers, firewood, and coarse Pine timber.
These Pine plantations are formed by the inexpensive process of
plowing the ground and sowing broadcast ; the total expenditure,
plus interest at 3j per cent., amounts to £64,104, the revenue with
interest to £26,047. The timber is now being valued.

The fourth large Cape timber plantation is situated at Fort
Cunynghame on the Eastern line of railway north of King William's
Town. Here the area planted amounts to 3,000 acres, the total
expenditure to £35,408, while the revenue and estimated value of

12

SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA

the timber amount to £160,000. The chief trees planted are Black
Wattle (Acacia decurrens), Cluster-pine (Pimts pinaster], various
Eucalypts, and on the lower better ground Oak (Quercus peduncu-
Idtd). There are various smaller timber plantations which, to-
gether w^th the larger plantations mentioned, amount altogether
to about 23,000 acres.

DRIFT SAND PLANTATIONS.

Among the most successful plantations undertaken by the Cape
Forest Department must be reckoned those performed with ihe
object of fixing the sands. Of such plantations there are large areas
on the Cape Flats, undertaken some years ago to protect the Rail-
way from drifting sands. At the head of False Bay an artificial

Morram Grass-planting at Agulhas,

1904.

coast dune like the " dune littorale " of Gascony, has been
run along the shore, stopping the further ingress of sand. Even
at Port Nolloth, where the rainfall is only four inches per annum

: has been found possible to stop a serious sand drift threatening

the harbour by the planting of Eragrostis and other grasses. The

that has been most largely employed for sand fixing is Morram

known as Bent grass in Scotland), Psamma arenaria. Drift
sands threatened to overwhelm the Agulhas Lighthouse : nowhere
has the planting of Morram grass succeeded so remarkably as here

ts growth can be seen from ships passing some distance out at sea
opens up wide possibilities for turning to account the dreary

FORESTRY. 13

areas of sand which mark the extreme southern point of the African
Continent. Morram grass has been planted successfully further
east at " Still " Bay, but this, so far, is the limit of its successful
growth. At Port Elizabeth, where are the largest sand-drift fixing
operations, Morram grass has been found not to succeed : and it is
necessary there to proceed by the more expensive process of covering
the sands with town refuse, conveyed on to the sands by a special
line of railway. After the sand has been temporarily fixed with
town refuse, it is sown with seeds of various sand-fixing vegetation,
and the Wattles Acacia cyclopis and A. saligna.

The Cape Budget for the Financial Year 1903-1904 showed a
total expenditure of £31,500 on the Forest Staff and £60,000 on
Forest work. Owing to the present financial crisis the total forest
expenditure has been cut down to £50,000, viz., £30,000 Staff and
£20,000 work.

FORESTRY IN NATAL.

Natal has been called the " Garden Colony " of South Africa.
The part of the Colony from which it derives this name is the central,
well- watered portion traversed by the belt of Yellowwood forest.
In the southern portion of this belt is situated some of the finest
of the indigenous Yellowwood forest. About many of the home-
steads in or near this belt have been planted introduced trees which
are growing with a vigour -unsurpassed elsewhere in South Africa.

Natal has a large native population (about seventeen blacks to
one white) and as the natives were settled in Natal they were un-
fortunately given destructive forest rights. These forest rights
and the settlement of the country produced a deplorable destruction
of its rich forests. In 1886 the services of a Cape Forest Officer,
Mr. H. G. Fourcade, were obtained, who, after a tour through the
country, submitted an able report (Maritzburg, 1887), which may
be read to-day with the utmost interest. Unfortunately, Natal
was at that time a Crown Colony, and practically nothing was done
to give effect to Mr. Fourcade's recommendations, or to those of
his successor, an eminent young German Forest Officer, Herr
Schopflin. At last, in 1901, when the Colony was managing its
own affairs, Forestry was again taken up. Mr. J. S. Lister, Con-
servator of Forests in the Eastern Districts of Cape Colony, was
deputed to visit and report on the forests, and at his recommenda-
tion the present Conservator, Mr. T. R. Sim, was appointed in 1902 ;
and Forestry in Natal is now organised on much the same footing
as in Cape Colony and other South African States. Mr. Sim's
preliminary report for 1902 and his last report dated June, 1904,
are interesting documents, and show what is being done in Natal to
make up for the long years of forestal neglect. It is a sad tale of
waste and ruin !

The Conservator of Forests has his headquarters at Maritzburg,.
and is assisted by a European staff of thirty permanent Forest
officials and five apprentices. The Natal Forest Staff now

14 SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

ranks second after that of Cape Colony. A list of reserved forest
trees has been published, and a modification of the Cape Forest Act
embodied in the Forest Regulations. Game reserves under the
charge of the Conservator of Forests have been established in Natal.
There is an area of about 20,000 acres in the wild country near
Giant's Castle, at the headwaters of the Bushman's and Tugela
Rivers in the Drakensberg. There are also game reserves in Zulu-
land.

At Cedara, lying at an altitude of between 3,500 and 5,ooo feet,
in the strip of well-watered country immediately north of Maritz-
burg, are being formed a large distributing nursery, forest arboreta
and forest plantations. An area of 407 acres here has been planted,
100,000 trees have been issued from the nursery, and 170,000 re-
main in stock (1904).

On the semi-tropical coast lands of Zululand a plantation has
been formed at Empangeni, with a nursery for the supply of plants
to the public. Cocoanuts and Dates are amongst the trees being
planted in this warm country. Attention is also being given to
the cultivation (here and elsewhere in Zululand) of the Rubber
Vine (Landolphia kirkii), and interesting figures regarding the
good natural reproduction and growth of this rubber producing
tree in Zululand are given in Mr. Sim's report referred to above.

Private Plantations in Natal.

There is more forest planting on private plantations in Natal
than anywhere else in South Africa. Round many of the substantial
homesteads forest arboreta have been formed which I found of
greater interest and variety than anything I have yet seen in South
Africa outside the Government timber plantations in Cape Colony.
The area of private timber plantations in Natal is estimated to
amount to not less than 5,000 acres ; these plantations, though
embracing a great variety of trees, are in the main composed of Euca-
lypts. Besides this, in Natal is to be seen the most remarkable and
successful instance of private timber planting in the modern world.
The plantations of Black Wattle in Natal now embrace an area of
25,000 acres, and give a return of £100,000 yearly. They are being
extended steadily. The Black Wattle used almost exclusively in
Natal is Acacia decurrens var. mollis. I have seen the open-leaved
variety (Acacia decurrens var. normalis) on some of the plantations,
but it is stated that this does not give as good a result as the mollis
variety. The Black Wattle plantations occupy the middle districts
of Natal on a belt extending north and south above Maritzburg.
In 1886 thirty-nine packages of Black Wattle bark were exported
to the value of £11 ! During the three years, 1901-1903, an average
of 13,814 tons of bark, valued at £71,662 has been exported, the
average value being thus about £5 per ton. The great rise in value
of the Wattle plantations that has taken place in recent years is due
to the good prices obtained for the poles concurrently with the bark.
From the Railway returns it appears that about 20,000 tons of

FORESTRY. 15

mining props pass over the Railway yearly, and of these the greater
portion is exported for use in the Transvaal mines. The bark is
exported from Natal in the form of roughly-ground chips. Other
outlets have been sought for the Wattle timber, particularly paper
pulp. The reports ot the trials made in 1899, however, are not
favourable. The wood is too hard for mechanical pulp, and has been
found unsuitable for chemical pulp by the sulphide process. The
soda process yields a coarse pulp of inferior quality.

The total present yield from the Black Wattle plantations,
including bark, pit-props and firewood, is put down at not less than
£100,000 yearly. The £10 shares of the Town Hill Wattle Company
at Maritzburg, whose fine plantations I visited in 1903, were then
quoted at £100 ! The average cost of these Wattle plantations is
set down at £6' per acre. And it is considered that for land well
suited for Wattles from £i to £6 an acre may be paid. It is now
twenty years since the Black Wattle was first planted in Natal.
The Wattle is fit to cut from five years upwards, the average cutting
time being ten years. The yield naturally varies much with the
different plai tations, especially as many of the early plantations
in Natal have been planted in unsuitable localities, but the average
may be taken at 5 tons of dry bark and 30 tons of dry timber.
The price paid for this bark at Dalton, the centre of ihe Noodsberg
district, now averages from £6 to £6 los. for bark in bundles,
ground and bagged £i more. Black Wattle firewood fetches up
to £i per ton, put on the railway ; good pit-props double this price,
or £2 per ton.

The forest expenditure provided on the current year's budget
amounts to £9,028, and the Conservator of Forests also administers
the two allied items of expenditure, viz.: — Fruit trees, £2,752 ;
game reserves, £1,176.

FORESTRY IN ORANGIA.

The Orange River Colony consists of elevated treeless plains
so subject to drought, frost, and drying winds that tree-growing
is a matter of great difficulty. Nevertheless, the beauty and
comfort of trees in such a country, and the necessity of doing
something to replace the large importations of timber, have been
fully recognised at Bloemfont in. In 1903, Mr. J. S. Lister made
a forest tour in the country, and his report was followed by the
founding of a Forest Department, which will doub less soon develop
beyond its present American modelling. Orangia Forestry is in
charge of Mr. K. Carlson, an able and experienced officer, formerly
in the Cape Service. He is assisted by a staff of three or four
foresters and seven probationers, one of whom has been
sent to the Yale Forest School to obtain a professional forest
training. Plantations are being formed near Bloemfontein, and
in the only part of the country where trees can be grown without
great difficulty, that is to say, the Eastern frontier bordering Basuto-
land. Here, two or three large Government nurseries are in process

l6 SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

of formation, and at Prynnsberg, near Clocolan, are the oldest
timber plantations in South Africa, formed by Mr. Newbury.

There is no natural forest in Orangia, and there has been much
disappointment in the tree-planting efforts that have been made.
This disappointment is almost entirely due to the haphazard
selection made. As an instance, Bloemfontein may be mentioned.
Here, for years there have been persistent efforts at tree-planting,
but the tree mainly planted has been the Blue-gum, a tree making
the largest demand on water supplies, while Bloemfontein has an
uncertain and small rainfall, and but a poor supply of irrigation
water !

The Forest expenditure provided for the Orange River Colony
during the current year, 1904-1905, is £10,600.

FORESTRY IN THE TRANSVAAL.

The indigenous high limber forest of the Transvaal, with
Yellowwood as the chief species, is limited to the better watered
districts on the Eastern frontier. From Belvidere (near Pilgrim's
Rest) one looks down on to a forest scene recalling that of the Western
Ghauts of India. Here, on the top of what would be called the Ghauts
in India, is the dense Yellowwood forest, stretching in a nearly un-
broken line along the eastern slopes of the mountains, and spreading
n patches over the plateau, occupying the southern and eastern
sides of the mountains and deep dark valleys. Below the heavy
Ghaut forest stretches the open forest of the hot, low country,
gradually tailing away to the thorn bush and scrubs of the coast-
lands. The area occupied by the Yellowwood forest in the Trans-
vaal, to enjoy the same amount of effective moisture as at
the Cape, must, on account of the lower latitude and greater altitude,
have a considerably heavier rainfall. This rainfall may be esti-
mated at from 40 to 80 inches. The largest area of dense evergreen
forest (Yellowwood) in the Transvaal is the Woodbush, which,
with the adjoining Helsbush (so-called on account of the difficult
nature of the ground) amounts to about 10,000 acres. While ihe
Yellowwood forest does not extend beyond the heavy rainfall area
of the eastern mountains, all the eastern side of the plateau, and
the better watered areas on the plateau are either treeless or carry
only low thorn-wood and scrub forest ; there thus remains a very
large area, in fact the best portion of the Transvaal, which, though
nearly treeless now, is suited to produce first-rate timber forest,
using the hardier trees of larger and stronger forest floras.

The first Boer settlers planted Poplars and Willows in the vleys.
Afterwards the more enlightened settlers planted Blue-gum and
Tereticornis gum ; and, in certain localities under irrigation, such
as Lydenburg (the capital of the old Lydenburg Republic), most
of the winter rainfall Cape trees were planted. As long as they
were irrigated such trees succeeded fairly enough. It is interesting
to see the results of these early tree-planting efforts under irriga-
tion in the townlands of Potchefstroom, Pretoria and Lydenburg.

FORESTRY.

Indigenous Yellowwood Forest, M'Dich, George, nr. Pilgrim's Rest, Transvaal.

l8 SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

But such planting was naturally limited, and practically
did not extend beyond the planting of trees for ornament and
shade. With the discovery of the Johannesburg goldfields there
came a change. It was recognised at once that pit timber was one
of the most expensive items in working the mines, and the mine-
owners laid down considerable areas of timber plantations, mostly
in the neighbourhood of Johannesburg. Unfortunately, altogether
fallacious estimates were based on the profits to be realised from
these plantations. The rapid growth of isolated and avenue trees
was taken as a basis for the growth of trees in masses. Sufficient
allowance was not made for the reduced growth consequent on the
increased drain on subsoil moisture when trees were planted in
dense forest. It was often assumed that so many trees planted
per acre would leave a nearly equal number of trees to fell at the
final cutting ; and, worst of all, there was little climatic selection.
Fifteen years ago we were positively assured that all the trees
that grow at the Cape would succeed at Johannesburg ! This
was an astonishing assumption !

It was assumed that trees growing naturally near the sea with
winter rains would succeed on an inland plateau, between 4,000
and 6,000 feet above sea level, and where the rains fall entirely in
summer. The countries to which one would naturally look to
furnish trees for the Transvaal are not winter rainfall areas such
as the Mediterranean and California, but summer rainfall areas
such as Mexico, the drier western Himalayas, and part of the
Argentine ; while for test purposes, trees should be tried from
the more southerly latitudes of inland eastern Australia. The
slopes of the Andes will also supply certain trees. The failure of
much of the early planting done around Johannesburg must not
be considered any criterion of the prospects of future Forestry in
the Transvaal. The largest of these mining timber plantations
are at Bramfontein, near Johannesburg ; the Willows (H. Struben)
near Pretoria; and just across the border at Vereeniging (S. Mark's).
In the latter an open, low-lying, damp, soil makes up, to a large
extent, for the deficient rainfall.

In 1903 I visited the Transvaal and framed a forest scheme,
which was published in a report to the Transvaal Government
(Pretoria, 1903). This scheme contemplated an expenditure of
£100,000 yearly for six years. The report gave a list of over 450
species of timber trees suitable for cultivation in the Transvaal.
Of these only a small proportion are already growing there. The
following year I again visited the Transvaal, and this was foil: wed
by the appointment of Mr. Charles Legat as Conservator of Forests,
with a moderate staff of assistants. Mr. Legat himself is a
former member of the Cape Forest Department.

During the short time that the Transvaal Forest Department
has been in existence a central nursery and seed store has been
established at Irene, in charge of a Forest Officer who was also for
some time in the Cape Forest Department. This nursery during
its first season (summer 1904-1905) had a revenue of £2,000 from

FORESTRY.

Dry Open Forest, Inchlomu Tree on Bank of River, Nelspruit, Transvaal.

2O SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

the sale of young trees, which is the largest revenue of any
forest nursery in South Africa.

Government plantations have been established in the following
five localities : —
t Lichtenberg.

Ermelo.

Pan.

Potchefstroom.

Belfast.

In these plantations excellent work has already been done.
It is anticipated that 2,000 acres will be planted next season.
Hardly any Mexican trees have yet been planted owing to the
great difficulty in obtaining seeds of forest trees from that country.
Difficulty has been experienced also in obtaining Deodar and other
Himalayan seeds from India. A small plantation (350 acres),
successful but costly, near Pretoria, was taken over from the late
Government ; and a fine estate near Johannesburg has been mape
over to the Transvaal Government by Messrs. Wehrner, Beit and Co.
A considerable portion of this princely gift has already been planted
with forest trees. Test planting is being also undertaken in and
around the indigenous forest at Woodbush, at Sabi and at Pil-
grim's Rest. Here the climatic conditions are of the best and
there is every prospect that some of the finest timbers of the extra-
tropics will succeed, notably many of the noble Conifers of Japan.

During its first complete working year the Transvaal Forest De-
partment raised i| million young trees, and ij million were distri-
buted to the public and various Government institutions. There were
also nearly 1,000 Ibs. of tree seed sold. In the various plantations
there was a total area of 682 acres planted, the greater part of this
planting being at Pan, a favourably-situated locality on the Delagoa
Bay line, not far from Belfast.

Good progress has been made with the demarcation of the
indigenous forest in the north-east of the Transvaal, an area of
about 14,000 acres having already been brought into the Forest
Reserves. This forest possesses peculiar interest. It lies at an
elevation of from 4,000 to 6,000 feet, and marks the northern end
of the dense evergreen indigenous Yellowwood forest of South
Africa. North of this, across the great valley of the Limpopo,
occurs forest of quite another character, the dry, open, leaf-shedding
scrub-like forest of semi-tropical Rhodesia.

TIMBER IMPORTED INTO THE TRANSVAAL.

In his last annual report, the Conservator of Forests gives the
following return of timber imported into the Transvaal : —

Unmanufactured. Manufactured.

1896 £271,868 .. .. £328,947

1897 178,145 •• 258,741

1898 130,013 .. 217,447

1899 . . . . 74,258 . . . . 118,368 (6 months)

FORESTRY. 21

Unmanufactured. Manufactured.
1900

1901 £15,283 .. £8,542

1902 . . . . 275,332 . . . . 67,328

1903 781,409 •• 241,445

The forest estimates for the current year provide for an expen-
diture of £16,770 ; for the ensuing year (1905-1906) the estimates
amount to £25,000.

FORESTRY IN RHODESIA.

Here we have a country in which forestry should play an impor-
tant part. The natural timbers of the country are almost all
excessively hard, while the majority of them are not durable and
season badly. The larger portion of the high veldt of Southern
Rhodesia is covered with forest of an open character, which,
though better than scrub, is far from being good timber forest.
Doubtless, it can be improved by demarcating out the areas
that are best wooded and best supplied with moisture, and
then husbanding the subsoil moisture by thinning into groups.
But very much must remain to be done by planting more valuable
exotic timbers, particularly Cedars and other timber of that class
which fall under the description of durable softwoods. We may
particularly mention several species of the genus Cedrela, Taxodium
mucronatum of Mexico, Cedrus deodara of the Himalayas, Callitris
calcarata and C. robusta of Australia, and lastly the slow-growing
true Cedars belonging to the genus Juniper us. A list of trees suit-
able to Rhodesia will be found in a report prepared by the author
for the Rhodes' Trustees in 1903. In this report are enumerated
440 valuable timber trees, which are more or less climatically suited,
to Southern Rhodesia. This list is divided into two portions, the
first embracing the more suitable trees, and the second comprising
trees which, although not entirely suited climatically to the country,
are worthy of test planting. Planting in Rhodesia is at present
almost entirely confined to the Botanic Gardens at Bulawayo and
Salisbury, and the fine work initiated by the Rhodes' Trustees in
the Matopa Park. In his will, leaving the Matopa Park and its
road and railway as a gift to the country, Mr. Rhodes enjoined
the planting of every suitable forest tree in the Matopos. This
injunction is now being carried out by the Rhodes' Trustees,
and the planting of the Matopa Park will, it is hoped, soon afford an
object lesson of the greatest value to the residents and others
interested in the country. The Matopa Forestry scheme embraces
the formation of a National Arboretum, which, for this semi-tropical
country, will supplement the extra-tropical arboreta in Cape Colony
and the Transvaal.

The first step to be taken as regards Forestry in Rhodesia is to
determine what areas should be definitely reserved as forest, to
demarcate these out, and to protect them from fire.

22

SCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

AREA OF FORESTS— SOUTH AFRICA.

The following statement shows the area of forests in South Africa
brought up to May, 1905. This area includes the whole of South
Africa south of the Zambesi, with the exception of Rhodesia and
the Portuguese Territory, for which data are wanting. Though
there is much open forest in the Portuguese low country, and the
whole of the Rhodesian plateau is more or less covered with open
forest, it is believed that in neither country is there any appreciable
area of dense forest comparable to the Yellowwood forest of Cape
Colony, Natal and the Transvaal. This does not mean that there
is no valuable forest in Rhodesia. The Wanki Forest, yielding
Rhodesian Teak, may be cited as one of probably great economic
value, but the areas that it is intended to reserve as forests in
Rhodesia have not yet been demarcated, and I have no data, even
approximately, of their size.

CAPE COLONY.

Forests.

Plan-
tations.

Acres.

Acres.

Transkei : Demarcated, indigenous

102,000

Plantations (1,500 wattles, 562

timber)

2,062

Actual Forest area, Eastern (Cons. Rep.) . .

168,000

Plantations (including sand drifts

4,000 wattles)

8,877

Actual Forest area, Knysna (Fourcade)

90,818

Plantations

905

Forest Area, Western :

Plantations (excluding sand drifts)

. .

11,691

Cedarberg Forest

116,494

Indigenous Yellowwood

i,555

478,867

23,535

If we allow another 27,500 acres for forests in the Transkei not
yet brought on to the Reserves, that would make a total of 529,902
acres of Government timber forest in Cape Colony : there are
413,408 acres of Yellowwood forest and 18,035 acres of timber
plantations exclusive of wattles.

The following may thus be stated as the approximate areas
under timber forest in South Africa : —

Cape

Natal (excluding scrub forests) :

Old Natal

Zululand

40,000
50,000

Acres.
529,902

90,000

FORESTRY. 23

Three-quarters of the Natal forests have been alien-
ated, and of the 40,000 remaining one-third is on Native
locations. For the forests of Zululand 50,000 acres is
merely a very rough estimate.

Swaziland : Acres.

Numerous small detached areas, say .. .. 1,000

Transvaal :

Demarcated (1905) 14,000

The total area of Government forest is probably

about . . . . . . . . . . 20,000

Total Forest area of South Africa . . . . 640,902

Excluding the very poorly-stocked Cedar Forests

there remains of Indigenous Yellowwood Forest 524,408

With the exception of Cape Colony, Forestry in the various
South African States dates only from the reconstruction following
the war : and it is only in the Transvaal that there is, as yet, any
notable forest expenditure.

In Cape Colony systematic Forestry has been practised for
nearly a quarter of a century, during which time over a million
(£1,000,000) has been spent in the formation and conservation of
the forest estates, reckoning interest at 3j per cent. The value
of the Cape Forests is estimated now at about two millions
(£2,000,000).

The average value of the timber imported to Cape Colony is
estimated at £450,000 yearly, and the total South African timber
bill at i^ millions (£1,500,000) yearly.

SOME ASPECTS OF SOUTH AFRICAN
FORESTRY.

BY

D. E. HUTCH INS, F.R.M

SOME ASPECTS OF SOUTH AFRICAN FORESTRY.
BY D. E. HUTCHIXS, F.R.MET.Soc.

This paper was to have been on Forest Education in South
Africa. We are at present absolutely devoid of any forest teaching
in South Africa. A proportion of Forest Officers in the Government
Forest Department now receive their training at the India Forest
School at Cowper's Hill, England; but most men, whether in the
Forest Department or out of it, acquire their knowledge haphazard.
At the Government Agricultural Farm, Elsenberg, where there were
formerly lectures on Forestry there are now none, though curiously
there are lectures on carpentry and wood-working. This is something
like cooking your hare before you have caught it! On reconsider-
ation, however, I thought it better to alter the title of the paper to that
which it now bears " Some Aspects of South African Forestry," thus
making it of more general application and, I hope, utility. One is
apt to forget that in a British community there is too often a complete
ignorance of Forestry and to talk about it one has to start from the
beginning.

Owing to historical reasons, England and South Africa are to-
day practically without forests. In South Africa the reasons belong
to geological history. They have not yet been fully traced. We know
from the coal-fields and fossil remains of trees that forest formerly
existed in South Africa, both where it is now too dry for it to flourish
and in well-watered parts. If we compare South Africa with West
Australia, we see that each has a highly specialized Forest Flora
peculiar to> itself; and a Flora within so restricted an area that it is
comparable to many of the weak Island floras of the globe. Owing
however to differences in the geological history of the two coun-
tries, whereas West Australia has still preserved its giant tertiary
trees, the ancient forest of South Africa is gone, and the indigenous
forest of to-day consists of generally stunted ever-green trees confined
to sheltered kloofs and the most favourable localities on the moun-
tains facing the coast. The trees are, as a whole, semi-tropical
species, with a better development towards the tropics, while here in
the extra-tropics, they are slow of growth, delicate in constitution and
with a weak natural reproduction. It is probable that they will
gradually be replaced, as they have in the Cape Peninsula, by the
hardier members of larger forest Floras. In this respect, in appear-
ance, and in characteristics generally, they much resemble the
" Shola " forest on the Nilgiri plateau of Southern India. There also
we have a small isolated extra,-tropical country with weak semi-
tropical trees that are easily ousted by the stronger species of the
Australian extra-tropical forest, flora.

In England and Northern Europe the ancient tertiary forest of
giant Eucalypts is gone ; but England and Northern Europe in the

2 REPORT S.A.A. ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

succession of glacial and semi-tropical periods have never been cut
off from the great forest region of the North. Up to comparatively
recent times England was rich in forests. Caesar found Oak and
Beech in the South, Scotch-pine in the North and nearly the whole
country a vast forest. There was still good forest when William the
Conqueror came, but he had to resort to, perhaps necessarily, severe
measures, to obtain the compact area in the South — the " New
Forest." What finally destroyed the forest wealth of England was
the confiscation of the rich Church forests in the time of Henry VIIL
At that time the nobles were powerful, the people and the national
sentiment of modern times were weak. Nearly all the confiscated
Church forests went to the nobles, and shared the eventual fate of
all private forests; that is to say, gradual destruction. On the Conti-
nent of Europe the rich Church forests were not confiscated until the
troublous times of the French Revolution at the beginning of 1800.
When taken from the Church which had preserved them intact for
centuries, they were given, not to the nobles as in England, but to
the people of the country. Hence we see the curious contrast of
to-day, no National Forests and no Scientific Forestry in England ;
on the Continent of Europe great and increasing forest wealth. The
forests of Germany occupy one quarter of its total surface and their
capitalized value is reckoned at 900 million pounds sterling. Great
Britain and Ireland in Forestry occupy the lowest position among the
States of Europe, being one per cent, worse off than Portugal : —

Percentage of Woodlands.

Russia in Europe ... ... . . 36 "j

Austria ... ... ... ... 30; Scientifically

Germany ... ... ... ... 26 ! conserved

Switzerland ... ... ... 19 / and

France ... ... 17 \ permanent.

Portugal ... ... ... ... 5 J

Great Britain and Ireland ... ... 4 I D1Pa!"kfS' smallf

* j Plantations, etc.

The average proportion of Forest on the Continent of Europe
is calculated at 29^ per cent.

FORESTRY IN THE BRITISH ISLES.

In no particular is the insular isolation of England seen more
than in the matter of forests. To-day England is paying in round
numbers twenty million pounds sterling yearly for timber that could
be produced twice or perhaps thrice over within the limits of the
British Isles if the ancient forests were restored. When we consider
that, in the more settled time before the late Boer war, the total cost
of the Army was ,£24,000 and of the National debt £25,000 it will be
seen that this forest question in England is the great question of the
future. It must come prominently forward in the near future in

SOUTH AFRICAN FORESTRY. 3

connection with the great social question of the rural population.
If the loss of this goes forward at the present rate, the Empire must
fall to pieces for want of recruits for the Army. In Germany it is
estimated that the yearly wages of the people employed on forest
industries amount to something like ,£30, 000,000 sterling, and that
roughly 12 per cent, of the total population of Germany is employed
in the forest and out of the forest. About 1,000,000 people in the
forest, i.e., directly employed in working the forest estates, and about
3,000,000 out of the forest, i.e., in working the forest produce, chiefly
timber, into the various articles manufactured from wood. These
forest workers in Germany are the pick of its manhood, the backbone
of the nation. In England they have been replaced by the weakly,
hysterical, knock-kneed factory operative, and his sickly tea-drinking
wife, whose mistaken ambition is to avoid the health and strength
following manual labour out-of-doors ! These are sad facts which
struck me very forcibly when travelling through the forests of the
Continent and the rural districts of England. It was not till I got
to Scotland that I saw a woman working out-of-doors. In the first
part of the Boer war, out of 11,000 men offering themselves as recruits
in the Manchester district 8,000 were found to be physically unfit to
carry a rifle " and of the 3,000 who were accepted, only about 1,200
attained the moderate standard of muscular power and chest measure-
ment required by the military authorities," (R. E. Dudgeon, M.D.)
England can better afford to pay the cost of its wasted forests, viz.,
^£20, 000,000 a year, than allow the present waste of its manhood
to proceed!

Not only is there a loss of non-production within the British
Isles, but the cost of importation by sea of so bulky a material as
timber is naturally very heavy. To produce within the British Isles
the timber now imported would require an area of about nine million
acres of forest, that is to say, one acre of forest to 8J acres of open
country. This would amount to on an average about i J " New
Forests " to every county. Germany as we have seen has one acre
of forest to every 4 acres of open country. Cape Colony spends
^£60,000 per year on its Forestry, or about one per cent of its average
revenue. If England were to reforest at the same rate ^ 1,000,000
yearly would represent the forest expenditure, and about two-thirds of
a county the area of restored country. France spends over half a
million yearly on Forestry.

According to the report of the recent Commission on British
Forestry there are 21,000,000 acres of heather and rough pasturage
in England and Scotland available for reforesting ; 8,000,000 acres of
forest would produce the timber now imported. It is calculated that
if all the waste lands of Great Britain and Ireland were reforested
the production of timber (excluding a small proportion of hard-
woods) would be 3 or 4 times the timber now imported. (National
Forestry" in Jour. Soc. of Arts, Nov., 1899.)

There is one redeeming feature in the present sad position of
Forestry in England. Since the doom of English Forestry was sealed
in Henry VIII's time it has not been possible to restore artificially

4 REPORT S.A.A. ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

the National Forests, at a remunerative rate. When I was a boy it
was necessary to pay 5% for money on good security. Forests in
Europe have not returned hitherto more than 2\ or 3%. It is only
within the last fiften or twenty years that money could be borrowed
at a sufficiently low rate of interest to make the restoration of the
forests renumeratively possible.

FORESTS OF CAPE COLONY.

The total area of indigenous forests in Cape Colony, from Cape
Town to Natal, is estimated at 500,000 acres, or 810 square miles.
Of this all but an estimated area of about. 30,000 acres is Govern-
ment forest worked systematically by the Forest Department This
is but a small percentage of the total area of the Colony, rather less
in fact than J per cent. Small though this area is, if it were well
stocked it would be enough to* supply the country's present wants and
leave a good margin for export; but unfortunately the forest area is
but poorly stocked with commercial timber. The yield of the
Indigenous forest in its present poorly stocked state is estimated at
only from 6 to 10 cubic feet per acre per year. This may be compared
with the yield of European forests from 50 to 150 cubic feet, or with
the yield in Eucalypt plantations which ranges up to 700 cubic feet
per acre per year. The following is a selection of actual forest yields
from Eucalypt and Pine plantations in Cape Colony.

YIELD IN CUBIC FEET PER ACRE PER YEAR OF TIMBER PLANTATIONS
IN CAPE COLONY.

Cubic feet.

Tokai : Kari (Prince Kasteel) 025.

„ (Cedar ridge) 533.

„ Eucalyptus saligna (Sphinx rock) \ Acre: 18 years

old in 1900 527.

Worcester: Euc. globulus (Copse first 5 years) 457.

Tokai: Kari (Manor House Ridge) 377.

Plumstead : Cluster pine (14 years old) 341.

Worcester: Euc. globulus (ist crop over the whole 60

acres) ... 332.

Ceres Road (sample area Euc. globulus) 322.

Newlands: Cluster pine (G. 93. 52. Heywood) 178.

„ ,, „ (Heywood & Brown) 170.

An inspection of these figures brings out the curous fact that as
much timber can be got in one year from a good Eucalypt plantation,
as during 100 years in the indigenous forest — the " rotation," or life-
time of the forest (so to speak) from seed-time to harvest.

EXHAUSTION OF COAL-FIELDS MET BY FUEL PLANTATIONS.

This high rate of production has a general interest outside the
production of timber. As I showed recently (" Nature," March 2oth,

SOUTH AFRICAN FORESTRY. 5

1902) it furnishes one of the most convenient and practical means of
fixing and utilizing the sun's energy. The fixation of carbon, in a
quick growing Eucalypt or Wattle plantation in South Africa, is about
fifteen times that of a similar plantat-on in Europe. To-day, near
Cape Town, it is less costly to plow the ground- and produce wood
fuel in a. plantation of Wattles or Gums than to import coal fuel
oversea, or by a long journey overland. If, on the World's surface,
we take latitudes below 40° and rainfalls above 40 inches, and
imagine this covered with forest, either with tropical forest or the
quick-growing Eucalypt and Acacia forest of the extra-tropics, I
calculated that there could be produced yearly, at the lowest computa-
tion, thirty times the world's present consumption of coal ! Details
ul this calculation are given in one of the forest pamphlets which
«ue on the table for distribution.

CAPE COLONY S TIMBER BILL AND THE MEANS TAKEN TO MEET IT.

During 190 2 -the imports of timber to< Cape Colony amounted in
round numbers to half a million pounds sterling. Previous to the
war the average for some years was a quarter of a million. South
Africa is a poor dry country. It cannot afford to go on sending these
enormous sums out of the country to pay for foreign wood, hence
the existence of Forestry at the Cape. In its Forestry Cape Colony
now stands at the head of every British community. Speaking recent-
ly Dr. Schlich (who occupies at this moment the position of the
highest authority on forest matters amongst Englishmen) stated that
amongst the British Colonies and dependencies, only India and Cape
Colony had seriously considered the forest question. India is a
tropical country with vast areas of poorly stocked pestiferous forests
and a comparatively small area of well-stocked, healthy extra-tropical
forest on the Himalayas. Fo'r some years past Cape Colony has
spent, on an average, ^60,000 yearly on Forestry. Of this amount
between ^40,000 and ^£50,000 is spent on timber plantations, com-
posed mainly of Eucalypts and Pines. The bulk of the Eucalypt
planting is to ^roduce sleepers for the Railways. The Cape Govern-
ment Railways require annually about one million cubic feet of timber
and literally train loads of imported sleepers, mostly Jarrah, can be
seen now by any traveller on the Cape Railways, These Jarrah
sleepers come from West Australia and cost at the rate of 5/- per
sleeper delivered here. The Cape Government Railways have now
to spend nearly ^100,000 yearly for imported sleepers. It is thus
a matter of great importance to produce this timber at home, espec-
ially when it is considered that we have an exact duplication here of
the climate of Australia, where these Eucalypt sleepers are produced.
Eucalyptus marginata, or Jarrah, is the sleeper now most in favour.
Some time back metal sleepers were used, but these have turned out
tts unsatisfactory here as in most other places where they have been
tried ; and the creosoted pine sleepers require the extra expense of
a plate to prevent them being cut into by the heavy rails and rolling

6 REPORT S.A.A. ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

stock they now have to carry. There are immense areas of Jarrah and
Kari timber in Western Australia, in nearly pure forest, near the
coast, so that access is easy and supplies assured. Kari timber is more
suitable for use above ground than in the ground, but Jarrah has a
well-established reputation for lasting in the ground; and there is, I
think, no doubt that few better sleepers can be obtained than the
Jarrah sleepers of Western Australia,. East Australia is naturally
fitted to produce equal or rather better sleepers. The Iron-bark
timbers of Eastern Australia are harder and even more
durable than Jarrah, and there are some half dozen other
Eucalypt timbers equal to Jarrah in durability. But East Australia is
comparatively an old settled country. It is 100 years since the
British Colonists set to work destroying the forests; and to-day, East
Australia cannot supply Iron-bark sleepers under 6s. or 6s. 6d. landed
here. The unique Cedar-wood of East Australia, Cedrela toona, is also
mostly destroyed; and so great and so utterly reckless has been the
destruction of forest in East Australia that even the luxuriant Black-
wattle has now become scarce. Not many months ago an enquiry
actually came from Australia, to the Natal Black-wattle plantations,
asking at what price bark could be shipped to Australia ! The Black-
wattle tree came not very long ago from Australia to South Africa,
and the Natal plantations are entirely the work of the last few years.
However, to' return to our sleepers. The Cape Government Railways
lately decided to lay down special sleeper plantations, for which
purpose sites have been chosen near existing lines of railway, so as
to avoid the heavy cost of transport to the railway. The financial
position of these railway plantations is very striking. It is estimated
that they will cost ^60,000 or ^70,000, and in 20 or 25 years will
bring in a perpetual revenue of £100,000 per annum. This is
calculated on the basis of the present mileage of Cape Railways and
the prices paid for sleepers. The species of Eucalypts that I have
selected for sleeper plantations are the following : —

EUCALYPTS FOR SLEEPER PLANTATIONS.

(i) E. paniculata ; an Ironbark.
(2} E. pilularis ; Flintwood.

(3) E. microcorys; Tallow-wood.

(4) E. resinifera; a Jarrah-like timber.

(5) E. saligna; Quick-growing good timber.
(E. marginata; Jarrah, low yield.)

These timbers are equal or superior to Jarrah, and they are
more fast growing.

SOFT-WOOD FOR SLEEPERS AND HOUSE BUILDING.

In spite of the fact that Soft-wood sleepers require the extra cost
of a bearing plate and of creosoting, they are now being produced
largely, especially in plantations where the poor nature of the soil is
unadapted to the rapid growth of Eucalypts. The species which

SOUTH AFRICAN FORESTRY. 7

is almost exclusively used for these plantations is Cluster-pine (Pinus
pinaster}. This is a tree which has become completely naturalized
in the South-west of Cape Colony, and which, by means of planta-
tions, is spreading elsewhere in South Africa. Cluster-pine is largely
used for sleepers in the South of France and the North of Spain.
It is so hardy and grows SO' vigorously along the Southern Coast of
South Africa that Mr. J. S. Gamble (author of the classical work on
Indian timbers) is of opinion that it should be given the preference
to Gums in sleeper plantations. It is spreading self-sown up the crags
of Table Mountain, and out over the sands of the Cape Flats. The
Cape Forest Department uses about twelve tons of Cluster-pine seed
yearly in its re-foresting operations. So far, it is free from any-
serious pests, insect or fungoid. From its great enemy, fire, it is
protected by cutting up the pine plantations, like a chess-board, with
protective strips of Eucalypts. These Eucalypt fire-lines are pro-
ductive instead of being a source of expense, and are more effective
in arresting sparks than the usual cleared or plowed fire-lines.

The other pines that have grown largely enough to be now con-
sidered naturalized are : —

Pinus insignis, or Insignis pine.

Pinus halepensis, or Jerusalem pine.

Pinus canariensis, or Canary Island pine.

Pinus pinea. — The Stone-pine, or Umbrella-pine, of Italy, has
been grown at the Cape for 150 years or more; apparently it was
introduced before the Cluster-pine. But about 25 years ago it was
attacked by a fungoid disease — Peronospera sp. — and has now
ceased to have any importance as a forest tree. Pinus insignis
suffers from a variety of diseases ; it can no< longer with safety be
planted in large masses, for which purpose its place may be taken
by its home associate Pinus muricata. The beauty and rapid growth
of the Insignis pine will, however, ensure its continued planting as an
ornamental tree.

The four Pitch-pines of the Gulf States of the United States of
America are being planted with caution. They are climatically
suited only to the wettest parts of the Southern coast. They are : —
Pinus australis.

„ mitts.

„ cubensis.

,. taeda.

OTHER TREES.

Besides the Eucalypts and Pines a great variety of other trees
are being planted in Cape Colony. It would take too
long even to enumerate these. The Cedars alone would
require a paper to themselves to describe. , About twenty-
five species yielding Cedar or Cedar-like wood are under cul-
tivation. These are absolutely the most valuable timbers grown in
South Africa, but they have not the economic importance of the
Eucalypts and Pines on account of their slow growth. These trees

8 REPORT S.A.A. ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

belong to the genera Juniperus, Cupressus, Callitris, Cedrella, and
Cedrus. Cape Cedar, the most useful of the indigenous timbers, is
Callitris arbor ea. It grows on the rugged Cedarberg Range 100 miles
North of Cape Town, to the size and stature of the Cedar of the
Atlas Mountains; but, alas, the former extensive Cedar Forests of
Cape Colony were ravaged, by axe and fire, for 150 years before the
Forest Department came into existence, and only vestiges of these
valuable trees now remain. Unlike the delicate trees of the ever-
green Indigenous forest, Cape Cedar is perfectly hardy against wind,
drought, frost, and snow; it seeds abundantly, and is easily propa-
gated.

Other interesting timber trees now being planted are the Black-
wood, Acacia melanoxylon, and the Camphor. Black-wood has a
timber like walnut; and Camphor the scented wood yielding the
Camphor of commerce.

Of ornamental trees we may mention the Pepper-tree, Schinus
molle, which flourishes in the dry inland districts; the brilliant
scarlet flowering Gum, Eucalyptus ficifolia, on the coast districts ;
the noble English Oak, which is here more a fruit tree than a timber ;
and the Plane, with its dense foliage flourishing, like the Weeping-
willow, near water.

The Government timber plantations, which are mostly near Cape
Town, or in the mountains North of King William's Town, now em-
brace about 20,000 acres of timber, and they are now manufacturing
timber for the country at the rate of about three million cubic feet
yearly. This is above one-third our present timber im-
portation, 7^ million cubic feet, or more than half of what
we were importing before the war, 5 million cubic feet. None
but it has been used for pit props, and the thinnings supply already
a great deal of firewood. Indeed, one of the oldest of the plantations
near Cape Town keeps a sawmill constantly at work sawing up fire-
wood, and the revenue from the sale of firewood and young plants in
these plantations now equals the expenditure, before cutting a stick
of the main timber crop! This is a most satisfactory result.

There are, as mentioned, up to date, about 20,000 acres of fully
stocked timber plantations in Cape Colony. One of the oldest and
best known of these plantations is at Tokai, i£ hours from Cape
Town. I was absent from Cape Town when the official programme
of the Association's visits was drawn up; but an unofficial visit to
Tokai has been since arranged for Friday afternoon, and I shall be
very happy to see there, on that day, all those who take an interest
in Forestry. If they will kindly give me their names now, I will make
the necessary arrangements for free conveyance by rail and cart t«
Tokai.

The short time remaining now at our disposal will be fully
occupied with the examination of the South African wood specimens
on the table.

IB*

lASl

D^?*1

132^5701

482561

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY