Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
non-European flora; pursued the world's most extensive experiments with exotic
species; and pioneered models to compare climates from around the world. German
and French foresters, who cultivated and managed species native to Europe, could
offer foresters in South Africa little practical help for selecting and growing exotic
trees from outside of Europe. C. C. Robertson, a South African forester of the
early twentieth century, noted: 'In the other branches of the science of Forestry,
we can look to some other countries, and particularly to Germany . . . but the
scientific naturalisation of exotic trees has so far received comparatively little
attention in these countries' (Robertson, 1909: 219). Neither did studying in
Europe necessarily predispose foresters to mimic European methods. The Cape
forester David Ernest Hutchins, who studied forestry at the French national forestry
school in Nancy, frequently argued that European practices would not work in the
Cape Colony and helped found the first forestry school in South Africa. The
methods South African foresters used to select species and create plantations
remained highly controversial in European and British imperial forestry circles until
the 1960s.
Australia's flora and Australian scientists played an important role in the origins
of this experimental programme (Grove, 1995; Barton, 2002; Vandergeest and
Peluso, 2006). Although Australian trees seemed to offer phenomenal results when
grown in ideal conditions, the first seeds planted proved difficult to grow
successfully. Millions of seeds planted out failed to grow; trees suffered various
diseases, died prematurely and caused widespread disappointment for the people
who planted them. In the 1890s, Cape foresters started working directly with
Australian botanists to classify existing Australian species in the Cape and to select
more climatically suited species. Hutchins and a growing cohort of South African
foresters focused intensely on selecting and growing exotic trees. But because of
the unique habits of the genus Eucalyptus, and the difficulties in matching exotic
species to local sites, South African foresters had to build up their knowledge of
Australian trees, quite literally, from the ground by establishing experimental trials
across the country.
The first formal experiments with exotics began in the 1880s and 1890s when
foresters in the Cape Colony started to select exotic species from climates similar
to those in the Cape. Many species of Australian trees first entered South Africa in
these experimental arboreta and plantations, where foresters tested them for their
growth and technical properties. Within three decades, South African foresters had
become world leaders in exotic plantation silviculture. In 1909, Robertson noted
that 'probably more experimental planting of exotics has been carried out here
than in any other part of the world' (Robertson, 1909: 219). After 1910, foresters
working for the Union Department of Forestry created more rigorous experimental
plantations and visited foreign countries to select suitable species to plant. Foresters
in the first five decades of these experiments gradually learned what species grew
best and how to plant and tend them. Throughout the twentieth century, state
foresters and private industry drew upon this research to more confidently grow
exotic trees in plantations.
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