PRIMARY PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
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thus kept of each plantation so that replanting and tending can be prescribed annually: in addition to the new planting, there is a great deal of work to be done in the established plantations. The main species planted is pine (Pinus Massoniana), but experi- mental plots of a wide variety of other species have been made and some of these are now being planted more extensively. Among the most promising are species of Casuarina and Eucalyptus.
In November a team surveyed the hills which will serve as the direct and indirect catchment for the Shek Pik reservoir now being constructed on Lantau, and prepared a report for Government on the feasibility and probable cost of afforesting the area.
In order to provide tree seedlings for afforestation the Forestry Division maintains a series of nurseries in the New Territories, a main one of twenty three acres at Tai Lung, smaller permanent nurseries in each forest district and temporary nurseries in many of the areas currently being planted. Altogether there are some twenty nurseries with a total area of approximately forty acres. These nurseries are capable of producing two to three million tree seedlings annually. Most of the seedlings are now raised in poly- thene_tubes instead of open nursery beds and constant efforts are being made to improve handling and planting techniques. Trees for amenity planting are also raised in large polythene bags rather than in earthenware pots.
A scheme of assistance to village forestry has been evolved, the final object of which is to teach the villagers how to plant and manage their forestry lots profitably. Model plantations have been formed which show quite clearly the result to be achieved, and these plantations have been useful in arousing the interest of the villagers and as demonstration areas. The Forestry Division also offers financial and technical assistance in forming trial plantations in village lots. Trees take a long time to grow and it is not always easy to convince the villagers that forestry will be profitable. Interest in the scheme is spreading steadily, if somewhat slowly, and it will be a number of years before the work now being done will begin to produce results. During 1959 many new applications for assistance were received as the scheme gained popularity; on Tsing Yi Island a nursery was established to produce seedlings for forestry lot owners on the island. Some of the older stands now need their first thinning which will be the beginning of steady