ENG-1961 — Page 130

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PRIMARY PRODUCTION

It is only in recent years that any serious attempt has been made to carry out afforestation on a large scale, and the landscape is now undergoing a noticeable change as plantations become established. Generally hills are predominantly grass covered, with a thicker cover of shrubs in some places and patches of scrub forest in remoter and less accessible areas. There are also thickly- wooded areas where the vegetation has been protected against cutting and fire, as for example 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 an almost complete destruction of vegetation, with soil erosion in its train, 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 badly lopped that they rarely alter the barren aspect of the land.

Forest reserves are for the most part co-extensive with the water catchment areas, and are divided into compartments of 200 - 300 acres, intersected by paths and fire barriers cleared of vegetation. The main species planted is pine (Pinus Massoniana), followed by Brisbane box (Tristania conferta). Experimental plots have been laid out with a variety of other species and some of these are now being planted more widely. Eucalyptus and American Pinus species are among the most promising.

Planting usually starts in the cool, wet spring and continues until June or July. Although planting may be successful in the late summer, trees planted after July usually have too short a period to become well established before the onset of the drier weather in October. The wet misty weather in February 1961 allowed early planting which was well under way in April and continued into June. Some 900 acres of new planting were established and previous plantings were supplemented.

Afforestation continued in the remaining grasslands of the direct catchment of the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir. The Tai Po Kau Forest Reserve was slightly extended, and more than three quarters of the Pat Heung and Fu Shui Forest Reserves previously planted were supplemented to maintain their acreage. These reserves extend continuously across the mountains of the Colony from Castle Peak in the west to Tai Po in the east, and together comprise some 13,000 acres.