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overmature trees, partial removal of underscrub, and exposing the soil on the forest floor so that seed falling could germinate and not be lost on deep litter, &c. Though there was a good seed crop, results were not equal to those of the year 1936, but the light seedling crop obtained may prove sufficient to re-stock the stand. No soil preparation was done during 1939-40 as there was no seed crop. It was found that opening up the forest canopy too severely in damp places gave rise to an abundant growth of forest ferns and grasses, and this will be guarded against in future. In another beech forest in Nelson Conservancy, 50 acres carrying little or no regeneration and ripe for felling for mine props had been prepared for seed-fall in 1938-39 by pulling out patches of the fern Blechnum discolor, and here the operation was entirely successful, the whole area now being fully stocked with beech seedlings. For the most part, these beech stands were recently in a primitive state, characterized by overmature and decaying veteran trees, no trees in the pole stage, and little regeneration. Along with certain pole stands which have followed exploitation by miners three to six decades ago, they are being managed with the object of obtaining beech pole stands capable of sustained production of mine props. In Reefton, the locality concerned, mine props are in good demand and miners have experienced difficulty in some instances in securing supplies. The general objective is to convert selected portions of the beech forests from overmature into young pole stands which will yield supplies of mine props in perpetuity. Section C. —Artificial Regeneration. 31. Interplanting Indigenous Forests. —A total area of 1,622 acres of indigenous forest was interplanted with tolerant exotic trees after logging and cleaning up : 1,555 acres in podocarp forest in the central North Island region and 67 acres in beech forest in the South Island. This operation is undertaken with the object of securing an early timber yield from cut-over indigenous forests while the natural regeneration and the pole-trees of the original indigenous species are developing to maturity. In every case the latter are interfered with as little as possible. It is found that the introduced exotic trees are able to maintain height growth with the competing shrubby second growth of the original forest only if the exotic trees used are sufficiently large and planted within a year of completion of logging operations. This method of improving the indigenous forests was carried out on a very minor scale between the years 1919 and 1929 with the planting of 26 acres in four conservancies. Since 1929, a further 5,649 acres have been dealt with. The chief species used have been Thuya plicata, Cryptomeria japonica and Lawson's cypress. The above figures relate solely to cut-over areas that have not been burned. 32. Afforestation. —Apart, from 1,622 acres of bush interplanted as above, 4,825 acres of open country were afforested, details of the forests affected being shown in Appendix V. With the exception of 2 acres of kauri, the trees used were exotic species. Mixtures of exotic species were established over 1,303 acres : 1,125 acres in one operation, and the remaining 178 acres by introducing a second species into areas previously planted. Replanting of unsuccessful, windthrown, and otherwise damaged areas and of felled areas was carried out over a total area of 4,032 acres, while the blanking up of 3,359 acres was completed. Tree seeds were collected and extracted to the quantity of 1,300 lb., including 300 lb. of indigenous-tree seeds. 33. Nursery operations. —A total of 1,792 lb. of tree seeds were sown, yielding up to 15th March, 1940, a total of thirteen million seedlings. Included in the seed sown are 267 lb. of indigenous-tree seeds. The total number of trees lifted for planting out amounted to 11,800,000, while 900,000 seedlings were lined out. At the end of March, 1940, the total tree stocks in all nurseries amounted to 22,000,000. Section D. —Tending of Forest Stands. 34. Indigenous Forests. —Hitherto revenues derived from the removal of a single crop of mature and overmature trees from the indigenous forests have been devoted to purposes such as the establishment of planted exotic forests. Under

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