ENG-1963 — Page 145

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PRIMARY PRODUCTION

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 the more or less complete destruction of vegetation, followed by 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 badly 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 of Tai Po Kau, Jubilee Reservoir, Tai Lam Chung and Fu Shui extending contiguously across the mountains from Tai Po in the east to Castle Peak in the west. Other afforestation areas are the catchments of the Shek Li Pui and Kowloon reservoirs, the Shek Pik reservoir catchments on Lantau Island and almost the whole of the Shap Long peninsula. These areas, covering 25,000 acres, are divided for purposes of management into compartments of 200-300 acres, intersected by paths and fire barriers cleared of vegetation. So far almost 12,000 acres have been planted. The main species used is pine (Pinus massoniana), followed by Brisbane box (Tristania conferta). Experimental plots have been laid out with a variety of 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.

In order to provide seedlings for afforestation the Agriculture and Forestry Department maintains nurseries in the New Terri- tories. Most seedlings are now raised in polythene tubes, instead of in open nursery beds, and constant efforts are being made to improve handling techniques. The early stages of seedling produc- tion are concentrated in the main nursery at Tai Lung, Fanling and later tubed stock is moved out to temporary nurseries adjacent to the planting areas.

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. Because of the protracted drought experienced in 1963, planting did not start until the last week of June; 71 acres in the Shing Mun catchment and 60 acres in the Shek Pik