FORESTRY WORK

Hokitika Guardian, 3 January 1931, Page 7

FORESTRY WORK

DOMINION PLANTING

SEASON’S FIGURES

New Zealand led the British Empire last year in respect of the provision of future timber supplies by afforestation, a total of 53,852 acres having been planted 1 with 3,900,000 trees. This information is contained in a special report upon the 1930 season received by the Commissioner of State Forests, Hon. E. A. Ransom, from the Director of Forestry, Mr E. Phillips Turner. Particulars of the areas planted in the various districts are as follow: Auckland region, 9574 acres; Rot-orua, 29,194; Wellington, 2566; Nelson, 4101; Canterbury, 5691; Southland, 2726. The principal species of trees planted were pi nns ponderosa, pinus radiata, pinus laricio, Douglas fir or Oregon Pine, and Californian redwood. During the planting season a total of 1700 workers was engaged and the maximum number employed at any one time was approximately 1400. The average weekly number of employees was 1180, of which 70 per cent, were drawn from the ranks of the unemployed. The total net area of State plantations now amounts to 307,500 acres. This exceeds considerably the area which has been afforested by any other British Dominion.

PINUS RADIATA VALUE,

Special reference is made in another report to the Commissioner upon the value of pinus radiata, the planting of which was criticised by members of Parliament last session. Mr Turner points out that in the Australian States the tree chiefly planted by the forestry departments has been pinus radiata. In South Africa, where afforestation is carried out on a large scale, pinus radiata has been planted more than any other softwood tree except the pinus pinaster. In Chile it has also been used largely for afforestation purposes. It was, therefore, stated to be unlikely that all these countries would use this tree so widely were not foresters satisfied of its high value. Owing to the cheapness of the seed, the ease with which the young plants could be raised and planted out, and the hardiness and general suitability of the tree for a variety of soils and sites, the report states, forests of pinus radiata could be established more cheaply than those of any other softwood trees. Owing to the short rotation required, namely, 25 to 30 years, according to the purpose for which the wood was to he used, and the fact that the tree yielded a larger volume of timber per acre than any other softwood tree, the final crop could he produced at a far lower accumulated cost than would be the case with any other softwood tree. "In forming their opinion as to the value of the timber of this tree in New Zealand, adverse critics have been influenced solely by their experience with timber grown in narrow lands as breakwinds,” Mr Turner says. "The timber from any softwoods so grown in full of large knots. It is of low specific gravity, of comparatively low strength and of use only for inferior purposes. "With pinus radiata grown under forestry conditions and management, however, the timber is an altogether superior product. The annual rings are narrow and regular, the strength is greater and knots are small or absent. As regards strength, tests carried out in South Africa prove the timber of pinus radiata to be about the same as artificially grown Canary Island pine timber, which is one of the strongest softwoods.

VARIETY OF USES

“In South Africa and Australia the value of pinus radiata. timber is shown by the fact that it is, untreated, satisfactorily used for the same purposes as Baltic pine. In parts of New Zealand also it has been and is now being satisfactorily used for house building. With antiseptic treatment it is essentially made as durable as totara. “In the future, in addition to the very large amount of wood required for building, packing, the manufacture or paper, artificial silk, acetone, etc., an immense quantity of wood will be required for the disintegrating process by which ‘fabricated wood’ materials are, now being made and used as a substitute for sawn boards. Finns radiata will yield a far greater volume of wood suitable for cellulose, and at less cost, than will any other softwood in the same time. “The foregoing amply justifies the planting of pinus radiata, but it should at the same time be remembered that the State Forest Service’s main planting is of Western yellow pine, Corsican pine; Douglas fir (Oregon), and Californian redwood, the merits of which even ‘the man in the street’ must be awaro of.”