3S I. M87 330 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. GIFT OF Class tfs&s?/ /&&?.. ^ 2%f-^-- •??£?. '"/T-'^> f^^^^^' ^y CULTURE. IN ITS RELATION TO INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS. A LECTURE, DELIVERED BY BAEON FEED. VON MUELLEE. C.M.G., M.D., Ph.D., F.E.S. (Government Botanist for Victoria, and Director of the Botanic Gardens of Melbourne), On JUNE, 1871. " The toils of science smell the wealth of art" BULWER LYTTON, from Schiller. STRANGE as it may appear, an impression seems to be prevail- ing in these communities, that our forests have to serve no other purposes, but to provide wood for our immediate and present wants, be it fuel or timber. For even after the warn- ing of climatic changes, and after the commencing scarcity of wood, no forest administration — at least, none adequate, or regularly organised — has been initiated in any portion of Australia; and thus the forests, even in districts already very populous, remain almost unguarded, become extensively re- duced, and in some localities are already annihilated; indeed, the requirements of the current time alone are kept in view. Under such circumstances it cannot be surprising, that neither an universal forest supervision, nor a judicious restraint of consumption, nor an ample utilisation of all the various col- lateral resources of our woodlands, received that serious atten- tion to which such measures became more and more entitled. During the earlier years of our colonisation, while the population was but thinly scattered over the territory, or The Lecture mas illustrated by pictures of some Californian and Himalayan Pines, by various diagrams, by a number of specimens of the more geittirally used timber, accompanied by many hinds of young trees of 934 ° n Sawn Timber ......... 250,000 feet; /Firewood, &c .......... 12,744tons^ J Props and Cap-pieces 37,656 pcs. ( n ,AQ , ., GiPPSLAND ...... < Laths and Slabs ...... 18,802 pcs. > 9>508 4 3 (, Sawn Timber ......... 202,581 feet; __ Total Cost ........................ £444,886 14 1 As a further evidence of the imperative necessity of finding wood by a mode different to the present means of obtaining it, I translate and condense a portion of a letter from an accomplished mining engineer at Clunes (Wolfgang Mueller, Esq.), a spot which once boasted of forest scenery: — The fuel required for the steam-engines alone at the mines of Clunes amounts at the present rate of working to not less than 1,308,000 cubic feet annually. The nearest forest is ten miles distant; the price per cord (of 128 cubic feet) is 27s. The cost of transit of the above engine-fuel amounts alone to, approximately, .£10,000 pro anno, the whole expenditure being about £15,000. The round wood, for subterranean use in the mines of Clunes, now annually comes to 1 60,000 run- ning feet, at a value of £2400; and this round wood cannot now be obtained nearer than from 20 to 25 miles. The sawn and split timber for the Clunes mines has to be carried quite as far, adding about £700 to the wood expenses for these mines, the total being probably not less than £20,000 annually ! No allowance is, however, made in these calculations for the domestic fuel of the miners. The price of wood is trebled already by cartage at that spot. No natural local upgrowth, even if not destroyed by fire or traffic, I am confident can come up to this rate of consump- tion; and it is evident that annually the price for wood at these mining works must increase; for many a mine this may become a question altogether as to the possibility of its further remunerative working. The mining operations, moreover, are generally at a yearly increase through new gold discoveries in the district spoken of and elsewhere. Although on the Clunes mines the price of wood has not materially risen during the last six years, it must be borne in mind that remuneration of labour has sunk, indicating in reality a considerable increase in the price of the fuel. New railway lines may certainly bring wood for a time at moderate prices to the miners; but this measure copes not with the real difficulty of the wood question, but only defers it, as such sources of supply will 14 also become exhausted, while carriage from an indefinite distance will become a financial impossibility. The present price of coal at Clunes is far too high to allow it to be substi- tuted for wood. Now let us pass on to still other considera- tions bearing on this question. It so happens that the decrease of timber in our colonies is hastened by other agencies than those of sacrifice for utilitarian supply. Irre- spective of the ordinary causes, by which in many countries the virgin forests became devastated, there are additionally others which operate in our colony to augment the extensive destruction of woods. The miner ignites the underwood, with a view of uncovering any quartz-reefs, or tracing mineral riches of other kinds. Although he desires only to force thus his way through a limited space of scrub, or uncover for inspection a small extent of ground, he really sets sometimes the whole forest on fire, unchaining the furies of the fiery element, which, in its ruinous and rapid progress, consumes innumerable stately trees, requiring the growth of one or even several centuries to attain their spacious dimensions. The burning trees, a prey of the flames, carry with them many others in their fall; others become partially scorched, and linger gradually to decay; others become at least so far im- paired as to offer no longer a sound or superior timber. Very aged eucalyptus trees are almost always suffering already from natural decay in the central portions of the stem. It is far from me to wish to impede the operations and progress of the miners, to whose intelligence and hard-working activity this country owes so much; but the advantages of gold-mining in our ranges may sometimes be too dearly bought at the expense of very extensive forest-destruction, with all the evils concomitant to it, or sure to follow it. Many other causes — such as the carelessness of travellers — set also frequently portions of the forest on fire, while the control over the devas- tation is lost. The answer to remonstrances amounts usually to an opinion that more wood is springing up again than has been destroyed ; but let us ask, how long will it be until the suckers, saplings or seedlings, which undoubtedly in many instances occupy the burned ground, forming perhaps impenetrable thickets, until they will really have advanced to the size of timber trees, fit for the saw-mill *? In other localities, less densely wooded, where the trees were so dispersed as to give to the natural scenery, before it was disturbed, a park-like appear- ance, in such localities, which impressed on many of the 15 original Australian landscapes so much peculiarity, the growth of bushy plants becomes, as a rule, by occupation of the ground, quickly destroyed; the shelter and shade, which kept the mostly rather horizontal roots of the eucalyptus trees cool and moist, becomes largely withdrawn; the pendent leaves and lax or distant ramifications of the tree itself, giving but partial shade. The soil, moreover, remains no longer porous and permeable to moisture — it gets hardened, bare and consolidated by traffic and heat; the necessary moisture is wanting to keep the bark pliable, and to maintain the circula- tion of the sap active or normal; bark and wood are getting fissured and partly lifeless; and now places of seclusion, as well as a wood fit for their ready attack, are given to numerous kinds of coleopterous and other insects, which, by boring the lignous tissue, are sure to complete the destruction of the trees. Pictures of absolute misery of this kind may be noticed around our city in all directions. I have succeeded in saving many a venerable tree on the ground under my control, and in arresting the incipient decay by merely surrounding the base of the stem with earth turfed over, serving as seats; or by removing the endless quantity of mistletoe, which sucks the life-sap out of the branches, the invader perishing with its victim, there being no longer a multitude of native birds in populous localities to devour the mistle berries. In many low localities again, the ground, indurated by traffic, collects a superabundance of moisture, which becomes stagnant, and detrimental to the trees of such spots. Various other peculiar causes tend to the decay of our trees : to allude to all is beyond our present object. How to provide, therefore, in time, the wood necessary for our mines, railways, buildings, fences, and as well as for the ordinary domestic and other purposes, becomes a question which from year to year presses with increased urgency on our attention, the consideration of which we have already far too long deferred. It may certainly be argued that in the eastern portion and some of the southern parts of the Victorian territory abundance of forests still exist, enough to supply all wants for many years to come. This is perfectly true in the abstract; but how does this argument apply, when we well know, that such timber occurs in secluded places, mostly on high and broken ranges, without roads. And even if the latter were constructed, which certainly will be required gradually, at what price can such timber be conveyed to the required distance? Suppose, however, that all these difficulties 16 had been overcome, whence are we to obtain the deals of northern pines, the boards of the red cedar, and the almost endless kinds of other woods, which future artisans will re- quire1? For, assuredly, neither Europe nor North America can sustain the heavy call on their indigenous and even planted forests for an indefinite period to come. Tropical woods might for a time be brought from the jungles of three conti- nents, but certainly not at a small cost. Besides, tropical trees, as a rule, are not gregarious; we cannot judge before- hand in every instance of their durability and other qualities ; we cannot recognise their extraordinary variety of sorts speci- fically from mere inspection of the logs, and we should find our- selves soon surrounded by endless difficulties and perplexities, were we to depend on such resources alone. Would it not be far wiser timely to create independent resources of our own, for which we have really such great facility? With equal earnestness another aspect of the timber question, as concern- ing our national economy, forces itself on our reflection. The inhabitable space of the globe is not likely to increase, except through forces which would initiate a new organic creation, or at all events bring the present phase in the world's history to a close; but while the area of land does not increase, mankind, in spite of deadly plagues, of the horrors of warfare, and of uncountable oppressions and miseries, which more extended education and the highest standard of morals can only reduce or subdue — mankind, in spite of all this, increases numerically so rapidly, that before long more space must be gained for its very existence. Where can we look for the needful space1? Is it in the tropic zones, with their humid heat and depressing action on our energies 1 Or is it in the frigid zone, which sustains but a limited number of forms of organism? Or is it rather in the temperate and particularly our warm tempe- rate zone, that we have to offer the means of subsistence to our fellow-men, closely located as they in future must be? But this formation of dense and at the same time also thriving settlements, how is it to be carried out, unless indeed we place not merely our soil at the disposal of our coming brethren, but offer with this soil also the indispensable requi- sites of a vigorous industrial life, among which requisites the easy and inexpensive access to a sufficiency of wood stands well-nigh foremost. I may be met with the reply, that the singular rapidity of the growth of Australian trees is such as to bring within the scope of each generation all that is required, as far as wood is 17 concerned; and as a corollary it would follow that each gene- ration should take advantage of the facility thus brought locally within its reach. I can assure this audience that enlightened nations abroad do far more than this, and would not rest satisfied with the greater facilities here enjoyed; they provide, with keen forethought and high appreciation of their duty for their followers, that beforehand which cannot be called forth at any time at will. If we examine this part of the question more closely, we shall find much to think about, much to act upon. Not even all our eucalypts are of rapid growth; they further belong to a tribe of trees with a hard kind of wood, which, though so valuable for a multitude of purposes, cannot supply all that the needs of life daily demand from us for our industrial work. The quick -growing eucalypts, among which the blue-gum tree of this colony and Tasmania stands pre-eminent, are com- paratively few in number, nor are these few all of gigantic size. They are, moreover, restricted in their natural occur- rence to limited tracts of country, from which they must be established by the hand of man in other soil for the neces- sities of other communities — for the gratitude of other popu- lations. Then, again, the pines of foreign lands, often im- pressing a splendour on their landscapes, must be brought to our shores — to our Alps — with an intention of utilising every square mile of ground, however unpromising in its sterility; for, after all, that square mile represents a portion, albeit so small, of the land surface of the globe. Look at the picture on this wall; see how the Norway spruce (which gives us so much of our deals and tar) insinuates its massive roots through the fissures of disintegrating rocks, or, failing to penetrate the stony structure, sends its trailing roots over the surface and down the sides of the barest rocks until they have found a genial soil, however scanty, on the edge of a precipice. Nature — ever active and laborious, ever wise and beneficent — allows the tree thus to live, thus to convert the solid boulders finally into soil, and all the time adds un- ceasingly to the treasures of the dominions of man. But just as time with its measured terms in fleet course passes irresist- ably onwards and irrevocably away, so also have we to await the approaching time, which all our wishes cannot accelerate in its unalterable measure. " Onward its course the present keeps, Onward the constant current sweeps Till life is done; 18 And did we judge of time aright, The past and future in their flight Would be as one.