PRIMARY PRODUCTION
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production was about 13 million pounds of milk, valued at $1.20 a pound.
The Colony continued to be free from rabies and rinderpest. The incidence of foot and mouth disease was not serious, though there were some 312 outbreaks of a mild type in both cattle and pigs. About 1,860 cattle and pigs were inoculated against foot and mouth disease types 'O' and 'A', 31,700 pigs against swine fever and some 8,920 cattle against rinderpest, with locally produced vaccine. In all, 21,100,000 doses of Ranikhet vaccine and doses of intra-nasal-drop vaccine were used for the prevention of Newcastle disease in poultry.
FORESTRY
The Agriculture and Fisheries Department is responsible for forestry generally, and for the direct afforestation of water catchment areas, protection of vegetation on Crown lands, assistance to village forestry, and amenity planting in catchment areas. Hillsides are predominantly grass covered, with a thicker cover of shrubs in some places and patches of scrub forest in remoter and less accessible areas. Thickly-wooded areas also occur where the vegetation has been protected against cutting and fire, as on Hong Kong Island and around villages. Villagers cut grass for fuel and this practice, combined with the prevalent hill fires of the dry season, has brought about soil erosion in many parts of the Colony. Villagers often have forestry lots on the lower hill slopes, but the trees, mostly pine, are generally so scattered and lopped that they rarely alter the barren aspect of the land.
Government afforestation areas are mostly co-extensive with the water catchment areas. The main ones are the mountainous area from Tai Po in the east to Castle Peak in the west, the catchments of the Kowloon reservoirs, the Shek Pik reservoir catchment, and almost the whole of the Shap Long peninsula on Lantau Island. These areas total 29,000 acres. So far almost 12,220 acres have been planted. The main species is pine (Pinus massoniana), followed by Brisbane box (Tristania conferta). Experimental plots have been laid out with other species, some of which are now being planted more widely. Eucalyptus and American pinus species (P taeda and P elliottii), are among the most promising. The department maintains nurseries in the New Territories, most seedlings now being raised in polythene tubes, instead of in open nursery beds.