For a considerable number of years past, however, large plantations have been made in most parts of North America, and more particularly in the Western States of the Union, where comparatively few trees have existed of natural growth, and where, therefore, the settlers are compelled to plant, in order both to rear a supply of wood for domestic purposes, and to shelter their agricultural crops from storms that were wont to prevail in those formerly treeless regions.

The forests of natural growth in North America, although still of vast extent, are being rapidly cleared for the settlement and wants of the inhabitants; so much so, that the respective Governments are now meditating an extensive conservation of them in order to secure the keeping up of a supply of useful timber till plantations shall have been reared of sufficient extent and age to ensure a supply being had after the timber of the existing natural forests may have become exhausted.

The existing forests of natural growth in North America are nearly all in a patchy and uncared-for condition, from the fact that the Legislatures have only recently paid any attention to them, and that previously—and indeed in most cases even still-the settlers cut down the best and most valuable of the trees wherever they had need of them, leaving only the inferior and least valuable portions as the existing crops. This may be said to be the condition of the natural crops wherever the settlers have had access to them. But the forests which lie beyond the reach of the settlers-and there is still a vast extent of such tracts-contain a large amount of fine timber; for all of them are in a state of nature, the hand of man not having as yet ever been raised in their destruction.

The older classes of the plantations of North America are, generally speaking, in a condition similar to many found in Europe— that is, a great part of them has been allowed to grow up without attention to systematic thinning, and in consequence of this neglect. the trees are generally of a drawn-up character. Here trees of all kinds grow with a remarkable rapidity. In a few years from the time of planting they attain a considerable size, and become useful to the settlers for many purposes. The settlers do, of course, thin their plantations in their own way; inasmuch as when they want trees for any purpose, they fell them, and remove them from the crops, but only in so far as they are wanted at the time. No systematic course of thinning is applied, and therefore, as already hinted, the crops are for the most part crowded, though on other parts patchy and thin from the removal of trees which have been taken for use on the farms. The foregoing remarks in respect to plantations are applicable to all those found in most localities throughout the United States.

Forest science in the United States of America may be said to

be as yet only in a state of infancy, by far the greater part of the people there being consumers of wood, while only the few are planters of trees. Of late years, however, the Agricultural Departments of these States have paid great attention to the matter of forestry, and are at present devising a scheme for conserving existing woods and planting new forests; and therefore in due time we may reasonably expect that the work of planting new lands and replanting old woodlands will be undertaken on a scale consistent with the wealth and resources of such a great country. The most intelligent part of the people of the United States are now aware of the evils incurred from the indiscriminate clearings that have been made of the original forests everywhere, and of the immense advantages that result from judicious planting; and they now seem to have made up their minds to enter on a new era in respect to the improvement of the land and the climate by growing trees in a systematic way, wherever this may be found necessary, both for the advantage of the landholders individually, and for the welfare of the country generally.

Although forestry has been very much neglected in the past, still the author is aware from his own observations, while travelling in the country, that extensive plantations have been, and are being, made by private landholders in all parts of the country, and especially in the Western and Prairie States, where they are an absolute necessity in order to protect the crops and stock of the settlers from the storms prevailing there; for it is fully admitted by the inhabitants of those regions that they are vastly benefited by the presence of the plantations which have been made, although these are of small extent compared with what remains to be done.

The kinds of trees generally found growing in such plantations are Plane, Sycamore, Ash, Elm, Scots Pine, Weymouth, Austrian, and various other Pines, together with European Larch and Spruce, intermixed with Sugar Maple, Black Walnut, Hickory, Black Cherry, Chestnut, Oak of various species, Locust-trees, Poplar, Virginian Willow, Juniper, Common Arbor-vitæ, and many other species of coniferous and broad-leaved deciduous trees.

Of the species named, preference is generally given to the Sycamore, the Scots and Austrian Pines, and to the European Larch and Norway Spruce, as being the most rapid in growth, and maintaining a healthy condition on most soils and situations.

All that is wanted in order to have North America made a wellwooded country is for the Government-or the Legislatures of the respective States-to conserve extensive portions of their existing forests, together with a large extent of their waste lands adjoining each reserve. Within these the existing crops could be much improved, and new plantations formed upon the most approved system

of modern forest science. This would be an example to all private landholders in rearing plantations on their respective properties; and it would soon lead to a state of things quite the reverse of what now obtains with regard to forest management as at present understood and practised in these States. There are some extensive nurseries in the States, in which are reared all the different kinds of trees used in planting.

There can be no doubt that the Division of Forestry, ably presided over by Mr. B. E. Fernow, acting under the Department of Agriculture, has during the last few years being doing admirable work under conditions of no ordinary difficulty. Even for the sake of the timber market of Europe alone, its further success is greatly to be desired. This subject has, however, already been referred to in some detail in vol. i., chap. i. pp. 27, 28.

The north-eastern portion of the United States, when first discovered, was covered by dense forests similar to those now occupying British North America. This part is now, however, to a large extent cleared and under the plough, so that no forests of any very great extent are in existence there. In the Western States, however, there are still great forests luxuriating in a state of undisturbed nature. Large supplies of Pine and other timber are still obtainable from these forests, but chiefly for home use; comparatively little export trade in timber is carried on by the United States.

3. Mexico. The forests of Mexico are also of large extent, but no reliable data are available to enable us to form a correct estimate of them. Here there are magnificent specimens of many of the so-called newer coniferæ to be found on the mountain districts, of which a large number have now been introduced into Britain-for example, Pinus Devoniani, P. Russelliana, P. macrophylla, Abies religiosa, Cupressus thurifera, &c., &c.

4. South America. In the north of this portion of America there are the plains bearing only occasional groups of trees; in the middle or tropical parts of it there is the great basin of the Amazon, called the Silvas, this being exclusively occupied by forest-trees; while in the south there are the Pampas, those treeless plains which extend for more than 2000 miles, with an average breadth of some 500 miles.

It might, therefore, be inferred that a great part of South America is made up of plains destitute of trees, and that it does not contain so much woodland in proportion to its surface as North America does. In the basin of the Amazon, however, there are nearly 400,000 square miles of the country under a thick crop of wood, interpenetrated by innumerable creeping and trailing plants.

VOL. II.

2 I

The character of the forests here is something very wonderful. Grand, gigantic specimens of trees of many different kinds mingle together. Large trees display the most brilliant colours in their flowers, and others have rich clusters of many-hued blossoms hanging from their branches.

In the warmer or tropical parts the chief kinds of trees are Palms in great variety, Breadfruit tree, Wild Figs, Logwood, Mahogany, Brazilwood, Cassias, Bignonias, and Melastoms; while in the more temperate regions a large proportion of the trees consists of Araucaria, Pines, Spruces, and other coniferæ.

"Though without forests on the south-east, South America begins to be a timber-producing continent in the islands of the extreme south, where 'Cipre' (Libocedrus tetragona) is largely felled; whilst north of the Straits of Magellan Fagus antarctica, the 'Chilian Beech,' F. Forsteri, and Drimys Winteri, Winter's bark,' are abundant. In the inner valleys of the Chilian Cordilleras there are extensive virgin forests of large timber-trees; and the same is true of the upper part of the 'Sierra' region of Peru and the 'Montaña' region. Podocarpus chilensis, Thuja chilensis, and Araucaria imbricata, the well-known Chili Pine, may be mentioned as characteristic of the southern area-Lambras' (Alnus acuminata), 'Sauco' (Sambucus peruviana), 'Queñuar' or 'Oliva silvestre' (Buddleia incana), Paccay' (Inga, sp.), from the sub-tropical Sierras round Lake Titicaca; and the Cinchona, Erythroxylon, Coca, and rubber-yielding species of Herea, from the Montaña region of the Eastern Andes. The scraggy Algarrobo ' (Prosopis horrida), and the Willow (Salix Humboldtiana) of the Peruvian valleys, cannot rank as timber-trees, nor is timber an article of export; but the Montaña region is practically continuous with the interior of Brazil.

"Brazil. The Brazilian empire possesses virgin forests covering an area half the size of Europe; and no less than 300 kinds of useful timber were sent from them to the Paris Exhibition of 1873. Many of these are not yet well known to botanists; but there is in the Botanical Department of the British Museum a manuscript volume by the late John Miers, F.R.S., many years resident in the country, entitled 'A Catalogue of the Woods of Brazil, arranged Alphabetically after their Vernacular Names, their Localities, Dimensions, &c. . . . in which many of them are botanically identified.' 'Mattas,' or heavy forests, cover the immense humid lowland of Northern Brazil, and occur in belts in the plains of the central and southern portions of the empire; whilst the deciduous woods of the mountain slopes are known as Catingas.' Language altogether fails to picture the luxuriance of the vegetation of Equatorial Brazil. Among the most valuable timbers of Brazil are-Caesalpinia echinata, Brazil wood,' 'Braziletto wood,' or 'Ibiripatanga,' which is hard and heavy, and takes a polish, but is largely used as a red dye; C. ferrea, 'Iron-wood;' Dalbergia nigra, Jacaranda' or 'Rose-wood,' the best of the genus, together with D. latifolia; Cedrela brasiliensis, the 'Cedar' of South Brazil; Araucaria brasiliensis, the Pine of the Organ Mountains; Mimusops alata, the 'Cow-tree' or 'Massaranduba' of Para; Physocalymma floribunda (nat. order, Lythracea), the 'Tulipwood;' Lecythis Ollaria, the Sapucaya-nut; Bertholletia excelsa, the Brazilnut; Ocotea major, 'Puchury;' Persea gratissima, the Avocado' or 'Alligator pear;' Avicennia, the White Mangrove,' the bark of which is used in tanning; and the numerous palms, of which Copernicia cerifera, the 'Carnauba,' 'Wax Palm,' is the most valuable. But rich in timber, the

Brazilian forests are still richer in rubbers, gums, resins, dyes, and medicinal substances-Siphonia elastica and Hancornia speciosa being among the chief rubber trees; Maclura tinctoria yielding fustic, and Bixa Orellana, arnatto.

The

"British Guiana. The forests of Demerara, which cover the greater part of the country, contain hundreds of species of timber-trees, suitable for almost every purpose, growing together in a mixed virgin forest. kinds most used in the Colony are-for building, 'greenheart,' 'mora,' and 'wallaba;' and for furniture, 'crabwood.' These timbers are almost imperishable, resisting damp and vermin, and can be readily brought to market" (Boulger, op. cit., pp. 422-425).

great

III. The Forests of Australasia.-1. Australia.—This country, extending between the parallels of 12° and 40° S. latitude, embraces many conditions of soil and climate, from the rich loam of the level plains, where the heat is excessive in the summer season and where snow seldom falls, to the poorer soils of the hills and mountains, which are of various heights up to 6000 ft. above the level of the sea, where the climate is comparatively cool even in summer, and where snow lies on the higher parts.

The trees indigenous to Australia are of a peculiar character, and nearly all of them are evergreens, as the change of the seasons produces no apparent influence on the olive-coloured tint of the forests.

The native timber-trees consist chiefly of Eucalypti. Of this genus there are many species, some of them attaining heights of over 300 feet, with proportional diameters. Species of Casuarina and Acacia are also common.

In some parts of this great country there are large forests of the trees named, along with other genera of less importance; but, generally speaking, the native forests are not extensive, compared with the total area of the country.

Both soil and climate, however, are well adapted to the healthy growth of trees from all parts of the world. In proof of this, it may be remarked that already very many species have been introduced from India, Africa, America, and Europe, all of which are reported to be thriving satisfactorily.

On the hills here all the coniferous trees of California are found to grow well, as also those of Europe and Asia; while the deciduous species of these parts of the world thrive equally well.

The Governments of South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria are devoting great attention to the rearing of trees of all sorts from foreign countries; and wherever these have been planted on suitable soils they are promising good results.

The forests of Australia, exclusive of those of the province of Queensland, extend in all to about 160,000,000 acres.

In general the trees of this part of the world do not possess