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18

ANNEXURES.

ANNEXURE I.-STATE AND PROVISIONAL STATE FORESTS AND FOREST RESERVES, Area in Acres at End of Fiscal Year 1924.

Permanent and provisional State forests and forest reserves under Service control comprise, 11-2 per cent, of the total area of the Dominion. Total area of State forest and provisional State forest and forest reserves at 31st March, 1924, 7,433,181 acres. ANNEXURE II.—REPORT UPON STATE FORESTATION OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH ISLAND. (By H. A. Goutjie, Conservator of Forests, Rotorua Conservation Region.) Extension of Plantations. Very satisfactory progress was made with extension work during the year, 5,614 acres of new area being planted with 3,851,440 trees of the following species : Pinus ponderosa, P. radiata, P. strobus, P. Murrayana, and Pseudo-tsuga Douglasii. The total area now planted in the Rotorua region is 35,638 acres. After a very wet spring a long spell of dry weather was experienced during the summer, but in spite of these conditions the young trees have done remarkably well, the death-rates being 3 per cent, in Pseudo-tsuga Douglasii, 6to 8 per cent, in Pinus radiata, and 8 per cent, in Pinus strobus. The planting was all done by the notching system, the labour-cost, 18s. per acre, being even lower than that of the previous year. The total cost per acre, including trees, amounted to £1 13s. 7d. Tree-growing . The, growth of the nursery stock was very good ; indeed, of eucalypts a record crop was obtained. For the better propagation and handling of the eucalypts a glasshouse was erected and used with very satisfactory results. A curing-house, to be covered in the, winter with calico sheets, was also built, and in this the more tender species will be sheltered from the frost. The quantity of seed sown was 934 lb., and the trees raised 4,305,000, the, total raised to date being approximately eightysix million. The year's output of trees amounted to 5,394,000, while to date, the total is 78,211,000 ; of these the plantations have, taken approximately seventy-three million. Seed-extraction Plant. During the year a seed-extraction house was built. The dimensions, &c, are—2s ft. long by 14 ft. wide, lined inside-up to the eaves, T. and G. sarking under roofing-iron, concrete floor, ventilators top and bottom, and door at one end. Heat is supplied by two Shacklock " Tui " stoves stoked with empty pine-cones. The cones are placed in wooden trays with netting-wire bottoms, a space of about 6 in. being allowed between the trays, which are stacked 7 ft. high. By shaking and rocking the trays the released seed falls through the netting-wire tray-bottoms and eventually reaches a canvasbottom tray, where it is hold until removed, The opened cones are, finally put into a " shaking-

Land District. Area in Acres at End oi Year 1923. Fiscal Changes in Area during the Fiscal Year 1923-24: Net Increase in Acres. State Pro ™r al forest Forost - Forest. 9 J Area in Acres at End of Fiscal Year 1924. HHte Fnreol Provisional Forest - State Horest. state Forest . Reserves. jl kit I OPjIxi m yB (DM p 5 h—i o m o3 I suafe Fni-est Provisional state l'oiest. state rorost Forest Reserves. N. Auckland. , Auckland Hawke's Bay Taranaki Wellington . . Nelson Marlborough Westland Canterbury . . Otagol Southland 102,485 151,228 199,053 69,500 430,626* 19,955 80,302 2,187 290,202 128.280 130,734 37.292 022,357 53,735 42,639 144,708 1,986,369 119,535 1,721,970 2,316 16,921 40,872 9,593 8,470 6,194 119 2,324 1J71 26,045 9J35 6,740 3,411 387 100 2,109 1,090 7,948f 507* 278* 4,512 5,868 104,809 44,032 . 151,228 625,768 2,316 200,824 53,735 16,414 69,500 43,020 40,594 450,671 .144,808 14,105 19,955 1,988,478 8,470 89,497 120,625 12,062 2,187 1,714,022 119 310,717 .. 319 133,107 334,012 2,108 136,349 593,324 3-3 8-6 4-9 0-3 8-7 42-7 8-0 44-4 3-3 5-1 92 315\844 575,017 543 20,515 4,827 385t is!168 18,307 319 1,565 Totals . . 1,674,844 5,661,830 96,507 1,611,212 5,019,466 85,028 63,632 42,364 11,479 1,674,844 * Error in last year's Igures due so survey. t et decrease.