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The following is an estimate of a bark-growing company proposed to be floated in Melbourne. Trees planted 6ft. x 6ft., 1,200 trees to the acre. Estimate for 200 acres:— £ s. d. Cost of clearing land, @£1 per acre ... ... ... ... 200 0 0 Planting, @ ss. Bd. per acre ... ... ... ... ... 66 13 4 Pruning, @ 10s. per acre ... ... ... ... ... 100 0 0 Miscellaneous, @ 3s. 4d. per acre ... ... ... ... 33 6 8 £400 0 0 Proposed that 200 acres be planted every year for four years, the expenditure of which would be as follows: — £ Cost of land, 1,580 acres, @£3 ... ... ... ... ... 4,740 Clearing first 200 acres ... ... ... ... ... ... 400 5,140 Clearing second 200 acres ... ... ... ... ... 400 5,540 Clearing third 200 acres ... ... ... ... ... ... 400 5,940 Clearing fourth 200 acres... ... ... ... ... ... 400 £6,340 Bark off 600 trees per acre, thinned at four years, say 141b. per tree = 75cwt. per acre, or 750 tons from the 200 acres, at £5 per ton on the tree **= £3,750; so that from the four blocks there will be £15,000 of bark off the trees thinned out, and the trees left to mature, 600 per acre, should give all round considerably over Jcwt. each. We have 15 tons per acre, or, on each 200 acres, 3,000 tons of matured bark, at £5 per ton, £15,000. £ Total of thinning out 800 acres, 3,000 tons, at £5 ... ... ... 15,000 Total of clearing off 800 acres, 12,000 tons, at £5 ... ... ... 60,000 £75,000 The advantages of cultivating the wattle are manifest. The yield is much larger, and, the trees having been pruned, the bark can be stripped with much greater facility, and the sample of bark would be a very even one. After the removal of the bark and wood, the debris should be burnt off, and no further sowing or planting would be required, as the young wattles would spring up after burning as thick as a crop of corn, and would simply require thinning out. Last April some of our men who were stripping for us burned off a lot of rubbish from the stripping, and just after a shower or two fell, and a fortnight after there were thousands of young wattles 6in. high. The wattle wood is highly prized by bakers on account of its great heating powers, leaving little or no ash. It is urgently sought after at all times, and is worth in Melbourne, in 2ft. 6in. lengths, lid. to Is. per cwt. From the straight trunks there are very superior staves split for coopers' work. For beef tierces no other colonial wood is used, it being the only wood that will not stain the meat. It is also coming into use for cabinet purposes, and looks very handsome when polished. We pay for stripping and bundling, including drying, from 30s. to 40s. per ton; but on cultivated wattle plantations the price should not exceed 20s. per ton, because the trees are all together, and are much easier stripped on account of being pruned.

By Authority: Geobgb Didsbuby, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBB4.