23

C.—3

species: Pinus laricio (12), Larix europea (10), Pinus austriaca (9), P. ponderosa (5), P. radiata (4), Pseudo-tsuga Douqlasii (2), Picea exoelsa (1), Larix leptolepis (1), Pinus pinaster (1), P. contwta (1). (The number of sample plots for each species is shown in brackets.) Eighty-nine yield tables for twenty-five species have now been completed. The field-work of a complete inventory of the plantations at Conical Hills, Naseby, Dusky Hill, Hanmer, and Pukerau was carried out. This work is now almost completed for the whole of the State plantations, and the total volume for each species is being calculated.

Sand-dune Reclamation: Area before treatment (Rangitikei).

Same Area as above after Fixation with Marram-grass.

TJnderplanting of Exotic Trees in the Indigenous Forests. The experimental plots established in Taranaki to study the growth of certain exotics when underplanted in tawa-hinau forest were recounted and remeasured for the second time. The most successful species, in order of maximum growth, are Cryptomeria japoniea, Thuya plicata. Pseudo-tsuga Douglasii, Cupressus Lawsoniana, Pinus strobus, Sequoia sempervirens. While the first species had completed successfully with the undergrowth, the remaining ones were still struggling against competition. To relieve the struggle the ground-cover on half the area occupied by these species was cleared, the remainder being left as control. A recount was made in two sample plots established in 1922 in the same district for the purpose of observing the progress of natural regeneration of the indigenous species present. In the Nelson-Marlborough region the spot-sowing of exotics in the cut-over forest on the banks of the Pelorus River was experimented with. Tapping of Kauri for Resin. The experiments commenced in 1925 have been continued and extended, and the plan of operation now covers the bleeding on barrel and limbs of thirty kauri-trees above pole size, and the barrel only near the ground of forty trees. Preliminary results will be available in 1928.