ARBORICULTURE-IX.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2593, 29 July 1882, Page 3

ARBORICULTURE-IX.

In the immediate future the practice of forestry will take an important part in the distribution of human beings, spread of nations, and the happiness and prosperity of old established countries. For it must be remembered that there are numerous portions of this world which will never be fit for human habitation until the influences of tree planting are introduced, and others which, under a systematic planting of trees, <to., would be rendered doubly serviceable to their inhabitants. The reclaiming of deserts, waste, and barren lands, will no doubt be the chief aim of future arboriculturists ; in foot, this noble work of wiping out the spots on the earth's fair surface, has already commenced in several countries on a small scale, and must cf a extend and inoreaie in magnitude. Such work as this must of course be left to ooinpo.nies, societies, and forest departments, but it is equally creditable for a farmer or landed proprietor to convert a barren or useless part of a farm or estate into one of fertility, shelter, or of service to himself. Wo often sea places on a farm unfit for the plough, and incapable of even growing grass, such as shingle patob.es, hard surface clay, ridges of sand, elevated mounds, all of which, if planted with something naturally adapted for their respective conditions, would in many cases form excellent shelter, break-winds, and in after years, by taking down the fenoes which would have to surround them at first, would be capital resorts for oattle, &3. Others would bi souroes o£ fuel Bupply, and in all cases grass would grow (in time) luxuriantly where previously it oould not exist. A farmer naturally thinks a good many times before he puts in suoh a permanent crop as trees on land of any reasonable fertility, and would gladly plant portions of land useless to him, if he knew what to select. It is for this purpose that I have carefully thought out the following trees, which, in my own experience and that of others, hava been known to answer the purposes for which they have boeu planted. The production of valuable timbsr is in these cases out of the question ; and a scrub whioh can be utilized for the benefit of cattle and fuel is, of course, the utmost whioh can be attained in planting waste and barren land, excepting the great improvement of the soil whioh takes place after the scrub has arrived at maturity and been taken away. In many instances I know that the poorest of land has produced excellent and even large timber, when the trees have been judiciously selected and thickly planted, so that persons with a view to reoeiving more than scrub from the barren Bpotß of tbeir farina must bear in miDd that it is impossible to plant too closo in such places. The ash stands foramest in the trees of

this class, for thoro is no soil bo poor in which it will not grow, no position in which it will not thrive (exoept swamps), in fact it will grow where even pasture fit for aheep will not live, and yet it delights in a deep rich alluvial. The timber is second to none in utility and value, soon arriving at a size fit for use, and on a ferm would be invaluable for a variety of purposes. It ia impossible to speak too highly of this, and in recommending it either for occupying sterile spots, or in planting largely through belts of pines and firs as a forest tree, I have tho full assurance that there is no tree in creation to surpass it; and considering tho cheap rate at which it can be bought, aud the ease with which it is planted and established, there oupjht to be no furmer in Canterbury without a plantation of this serviceable tree. The elm, although preferring a deep rich soil, will fljurieh on very rough ground, and often fine treea oan be seen growing on the very edges of olayey declivities. On completely barren lands it exists, aud goes far to form a good scrub. In a smrill state this tree produoes ussful timber, which can be used tor a great many purposes, aud stands second to ash in strong h and elasticity. The great sycamore, a tree of rapid growth and umbrageous foliage, is also capable of existing on the poorest of land. It forms capital shelter to other trees, and should always ocoupy an external position, for although the leaves beoome disfigured by strong winds, it by no means interferes with the growth ; on the other hand, it has the effect of keopiDg the tree very close and compact. The oak is particularly adapted for growing on barren elevated landp, whore it forms the best timber; trees grown on low lying rich land seldom result in good sound timber, so that although the growth is not so rapid on elevated positions, it anßwe's better in the long run to give the oak this situation. When transplanted in a young state on to very poor waste land, it thrives considerably, and when proparly mixed with others of a quicker growth, it is surprising how soon it runs into fine stunted trees and forms ft donee brake, where there is barely a sign of nutriment in the soil. Ir. the beat of land the oak will

nob run to a leader if planted afc first more than 7it opart from nurses, and the poorer the land the oloser must it be planted to in■ure anything like suecess. Out on the open cliff, bearing the brunt of every storm, on bleak mountain sidoa where no other tree will grow, on a swamp, or on a bed of shingle, the elder stauds pre-eaiine7.it. Whore no vegotation exists on account of the sterility of the soil, this tree always be plantsd *jith a osrtainty of growing, and althoiph fit for nothing but kindling it helps to oovor unsightly barren spots, and at the same time forms oapital shelter for cattle and other trees. As a breakwind round plantations there is nothing to surpass it, Oa lands not exactly bnvien, and yet too poor for cultivation,Buoh trees as the lime, beech, birch, laburnum, and aoaoia will thrive cu'l form excellent groups; wa'tles, gums, and numerous other trees could bo mentioned, but for the oxpross purpose of reclaiming a dry, barren and exposed plaoe on a farm, an equal mixture of ash, oak, sycamore, elm and elder will be found to answer every purpose. By planting thickly at first, in after years they oan be thinned out at regular iutorvala, and pines, such sb Frigida, Maritima and Amtrioes, can be planted where the thinnings took plsce, and so produoe in time a block of trees upon the poorcot situation imaginable. Whos the ultimate object is the improvement of tho soil, and henoe the removal of the trees in a few years, the oak should be omitted, and with the other four an undergrowth of the common Berbaris must be established. This shrub soon forms a dome thicket under trees, and being wonderfully prolific in roots it, as it were, eats itself out, and leaves behind a mass of vegetable tissue, which goes far towards forming good soil. Ohbis. Mudd, Puncan and Bon's Exotic Nursery, Opawa.