THE MACEDON STATE NURSERY. - The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946) - 4 Jul 1885 (original) (raw)

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Sat 4 Jul 1885 - The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946)
Page 10 - THE MACEDON STATE NURSERY.

THE MACEDON STATE NURSERY.

(By OUR AGRICULTURAL REPORTER.)

In travelling on the Melbourne and Sand-

hurst railway, soon after passing the

Macedon station, attention is attracted by an

interesting and pleasant break in the natural

forest of stunted timber through which the

train is passing. One of the railway em-

bankments has formed a large artificial

lagoon in the bed of an old watercourse, and

the steeply-sloping banks on each side are

clothed with beautiful, planted trees down to

the water's edge. A neat-looking cottage

peeps out though the foliage at the extreme

of a long vista, the hill-sides are orna-

mented by cultivated trees, and there are

sweeping avenues and nursery beds, all

beautifying the landscape and presenting a

pleasing contrast to the surrounding bush

country. This attractive spot is the Macedon

State Nursery. Instead of being the pleasure

grounds of some retired squatter or mining

speculator, the delightful valley is simply a

place where Mr. William Ferguson, curator

of the state nursery, raises trees for the

benefit of the public. A walk of less than a

mile from the railway station brings as to the

grounds, and we soon find that practical

utility is the leading feature of the nursery.

Nothing has been spent on mere ornamenta-

tion. The beauty is only that which is in-

separable from a variety of trees planted with

taste in a situation well calculated to produce

The reserve is 100 acres in extent, and it is

well fenced, while of this area 42 acres are

further enclosed and planted with trees and

shrubs. The artificial lagoon formed by the

railway embankment, which is within the

cultivated portion, is 9 acres in extent, so

that the planted grounds comprise 33 acres.

It is only 10 years ago since the first trees

were planted, and when it is remembered

that the natural forest had to be cleared and

the staff of men available has been small, the

results mast be considered highly satis-

factory. The Macedon State Forest of 7,000

acres, is in the vicinity, and upon this there

is a plantation of 200 acres which has to be

attended to. One man resides at Upper

Macedon who is employed on that plan-

tation, and at the nursery Mr. Fer-

guson has only two men and 12 in-

dustrial school boys. An average of 25,000

trees are sent away annually to public in-

stitutions. These trees have not only to be

raised, but have also to be carefully packed,

so that in the season a large part of the

men's time is taken up in packing the trees

and conveying them to the railway station.

When all this is taken into account one is

surprised at the large amount of work done

on the nursery, and the good order in which

the trees and grounds are found. The im-

portance of encouraging tree-planting through-

out the country, and the satisfactory results

which Mr. Ferguson has produced with his

limited assistance, should induce the Govern-

ment to give him a larger command of men,

in order that he might extend the range of

the good work in which he is engaged.

The success attained at the nursery offers

every encouragement for giving a large share

of attention to forestry in the colony. It is

high time that something was done to replace

the natural forests, which are being rapidly

destroyed, and the young trees at Macedon

show that highly-valuable timber can be easily

produced. There is a plantation of Pinus

insignia trees planted 10 years ago. These

were yearling plants when set out so that the

trees are now only 11 years old. They are

fully 50ft. in height, with stems measuring

15in. in diameter. The system of planting

adopted was simply to dig holes for each

tree, about 18in. square and a foot deep,

in the unbroken soil. The grass was kept

down amongst the trees for a year or two,

but nothing more was done. It may be

noted that the trees were planted pretty close

together, and this is considered an impor-

tant point. After the trees grow up they can

be thinned out to make room, but while

young they grow much better by being close

together. The timber of the Pinus insignia

is not of first quality, but large quantities of

it are imported into the colony, being used

for lining-boards, packing-cases, and such

purposes. Forests of this timber would be

highly valuable, and Mr. Ferguson's experi-

ment shows now easily and quickly they

There are other trees which produce the

best quality of timber, and they grow remark-

ably well at Macedon. Of course, slow

growing timber cannot be obtained without

time in any country, but this fact is a strong

argument against delaying the cultivation of

forests. It should be sufficient for us to have

found that oaks grow more quickly here than

in England, and firs more rapidly than in

Scotland. The pine which produces Cali-

fornian red wood is found to grow remark-

ably well at Macedon. There are specimens

43ft. high, with well-developed stems, which

are only eight years old, and which have out-

stripped many treeB of the same age in their

vicinity. This tree produces a timber of the

highest quality. The city of San Francisco

is nearly all built of red wood. It is close

grained, takes a good polish, and does

not burn readily. A forest of such timber

would be the most valuable crop that any

land could produce, and it can be obtained

from land which is fit for nothing else. The

nursery is situated upon the slopes of a poor

schistose hill. The slaty rock is near the

surface, cropping out in places, and the soil

is a poor grey loam. Such country, which

would not produce cereal or root crops, is

well suited for trees, and its timber crop

would be more valuable than wheat, oats, or

On the top of the Macedon range, where

the soil is richer than at the nursery, 200

acres have been fenced in with a picket fence

and planted with trees. The dead wood,
the smaller logs, and the most worth-
less of living trees have been removed,
this work having been done by contract. The
picket fence was necessary to keep off the
wallabies, which would destroy the young

trees. Here pines of different kinds, English
and American oaks, elms, and catalpas, have
been planted. A hole for each was made,

about 18 inches square and a foot deep, and

the trees were put in from 12ft. to 15ft. apart.
Two-year-old plants about a foot in height
were put in, and the planting has been highly
successful. The trees first planted are six
years old, and many of them are from 20 to 25
feet in height, and all the plantation is doing
well. Mr. Ferguson has quite satisfied him-

self of the success of this style of plant-
ing, and 50 acres additional are to be

put under trees this season. At the You
Yangs, 100 acres were planted last season,
but the rabbits proved very destructive.
This year, however, the rabbits are not so
troublesome, and an additional 100 acres are
to be sown with the seeds of forest trees.

At the nursery in addition to the trees
already mentioned, there are a great variety,
and most of the specimens show luxuriant
growth. The Wellingtonia gigantea, the

"Big Tree" of California, is well repre-
sented and among the other trees which
show the best growth are the Pinus excelsa
and Pinus ponderosa, spruce firs, and cedars.
The plantation of English and American
oaks shows better growth than could be at-
tained in the time in England, and there are
fine specimens of birch, larch, and elm
trees. An interesting experiment has
been carried on with the view of
testing the value of different hedge
shrubs. The cypress hedges attract attention
on account of the high, close fence which
they produce. Mr. Ferguson has several of
these and he finds that the best are torulosa,
Goveniana, and glauca, while the ma-
crocarpa he would not recommend. These
hedges, which are kept well cut down, are
high, thick, strong, and handsome, serving
admirably both for fences and shelter. The
New Zealand pittosporum is also found to
make one of the best of hedges. Planting
privet with hawthorn has also been tried
with good results, the evergreen thickening
the hedge in winter and modifying its bare ap-

pearance.

A very interesting portion of the nursery is
that devoted to experimenting with rare
plants. The valonia oak, so valuable for
tanning purposes, is represented by a few
well-grown trees three years old. There is
also a plantation of cork oaks, six years old.
The trees are about 8ft in height, and are
already beginning to form cork. This tree
usually is ready for stripping at 10 years old,
and then produces cork every seven years,
the second crop being better than the first,
it is encouraging to see the cork plantation
looking so well, when it is considered how
valuable the tree is. Amongst the uses of

this tree that of producing packing material
for grapes is not the least important. It is in
ground cork that the large quantity of grapes
exported from the south of Spain are packed,
and in view of the trade in grapes with
Europe which is being opened up, the culti-
vation of the cork tree is certainly worthy of

attention.

The tea plantation is a novel feature, and
although only small, it has been so success-
ful as to prove the climate of Macedon to be
well suited to the growth of this interesting
plant. These trees or shrubs, which are
five or six years old, are well grown and
healthy, and they have been so hardy as to
suggest that in such districts as Gipps Land
tea could be easily cultivated. The planta-
tion includes both the Chinese and Indian
varieties, and both have done well. The
tea industry may be one of those which can
only be carried on where there is cheap
labour, but it is satisfactory to find that as
far as our soil and climate are concerned tea
could be easily cultivated in Victoria. There
are also a number of plants of the cinchona
tree, which produces the medicinal Peruvian
bark. These are not for distribution, as was
reported some time ago, but to be propagated
in the state forests.

There is also a very small nursery of Ameri-
can native vines raised from seed. Such of
these vines as are phylloxera proof will be of
considerable value, but the Government
might have done much more in the way of
cultivating phylloxera-proof vines at Mace-
don. Not more than 500 plants can be raised
from those now at Macedon, and some, at
least, of the kinds are not phylloxera
resisting varieties. In view of the outbreak
of phylloxera in New South Wales, the im-
portance of providing a supply of resistant
stocks cannot be over-estimated. Seeing that
the importance of such a course has been per-
sistently advocated in The Australasian for
so long a time, it must be admitted that the
department of Agriculture has been very
slow in the matter.

The buildings consist of the curator's
house, a cottage at each end of the nursery for
the two men, and a large new erection which
serves as quarters for the industrial school boys
and their attendants. The boys are looked after
by a teacher and a married couple, and they
seem to have comfortable quarters. They are
received at 12 years old, and, with very few ex-
ceptions, give fair satisfaction. The worst
feature is that at 15 years old, just as they are
beginning to get useful, their friends, who
are not heard of up to that time, frequently
claim them. It has been stated that 25,000
trees are sent away from the nursery an-
nually. The year before last 50,000 were sent
out, on account of the fact that selectors or
other private individuals could come and ob-
tain trees. A rule was afterwards made that
trees could only be supplied to local bodies,
state schools, police stations, or other insti-
tutions receiving state aid. This rule was
adopted not because trees were scarce, but be-
cause nurserymen objected. Enough has
been said to show that the nursery is doing
good work and that great results are being
obtained from a small outlay, while the in-
ference is irresistible that the usefulness of

the state forest nursery should be greatly
extended.