TREE PLANTING ON FARMS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4395, 27 March 1922, Page 4

TREE PLANTING ON FARMS

POPLABS FOR THE VALUE OF EUCALYPTS. An interesting pamphlet on treeplanting has been issued by the Conservator of Forests, Whakarewarevva, Rotorua, which contains much valuable information to the settler who contemplates planting trees for wind breaks, shelter belts), for the supply of timber for farm purposes or for firewood. Instruction in preparing for planting, planting, and caring for young trees is given. The writer states : “The eucalypts (Australian gums) are about the most useful trees tlhat can be planted on a farm. Besides providing good shelter the ‘timber of many of the kinds enumerated makes excellent fencing material, being both durable and strong. Most of them also provide a first-class fuel. In seaside localities which are subject to strong salt-laden winds eucalypts are generally disappointing and cannot be grown .to advantage unless well sheltered by wide belts of pint’s radiata or cupressus macrocarpa, both of which are good trees for seaside conditions.

“The transplanting of eucalypts requires to be very carefully done. The inexperienced are often needlessly | alarmed because the leaves of euca- | lyptus become withered and drop off , after transplanting. If l the plants ■ are ’thin and weak they do not gen- ; erally recover after losing the leaves, I but strong healthy plants usually produce new leaves within a few weeks. Experience has shown that, with reasonable: care, several species transplant even if shifted with open 1 roots. POPLARS. 1 “The varieties offered have been propagated from, imported stock; pH are quick growing. Poplars succeed best;'in moist land. Young trees are very susceptible to late spring frosts. INSTRUCTIONS FOR UNPACKING. “When plants ‘have had to endure a lengthy journey a good deal of loss and disappointment' may be avoided if the following instructions are observed when unpackings However carefully they are packed, the close confinement in a packing-case or bundle and the journey in a railway van or steamer causes the plants to become more or less heated, and they have to be gradually hardened again to open-air conditions. - “Take the plants from the case and stand them upright in a shallow box ; open up the bundles to tallow the air to circulate freely around the stem and leaves of each, plant; cover the roots with damp moss, straw, or soil. Leave them for 24 hour ( s in the shelter of a cool shed and in a position where they will not get any direct sunlight. “They should then be heeled in or lined out for a week or twos, and. for this purpose a well-worked, somewhat dry piece of ground should be selected; on no account put them into land that is very damp and cold. Space the plantfe in rows Ift apart, and from %in to lin between each plant. Plants treated in this manner are much more likely to succeed than if taken direct from the pack-ing-case and placed in their permanent position. Plants supplied in trays should be unpacked and allowed to remain under cover as above described. if the planting is not to be done at 'once the trays should be placeci in a level position on .the shady side of a building or hedge, and if necessary to water them- this should he done sparingly. PLANTING DISTANCES..

"Single rows of trees, along 1 boundary fence may be spaced in accordance with the planter’s desire and object. In order to give fairly close shelter, however, a spacing distance of about 16ft will be found generally acceptable. If .the object .n planting is to produce a crop of timber the trees should be planted in wide belts or blocks. In such a case a spacing distance of 6ft is recommended for all species in the list except Cupressus macrocarpa, which, ow’ng to its .tendency to produce strong laterals, should be spaced Jiot more than 4ft apart. "Satisfactory close hedges may oe made with the two species of Cupressus if these are spaced from 3ft to 6, r t apart. Both kinds will endure trimming if this is done regularly in the dormant season—say, from May to Augtist, "The number of trees required per acre, if spaced 4ft apart! is 2722 ; 6ft, 1210; Bft, 680. ADVANTAGES OF RAISING TREES FROM SEEDS. “In order to avoid the inevitable disappointment of plants arriving at their destination in a/heated condition, the Department strongly urges

persons living a long distance from Rotorua or at places not easily reached by rail or steamer to procure seeds and raise their own plants. Trees may be easily raised from seed if a bed is prepared in the same manner as is commonly done for such vegetable seeds as cabbage, etc. Clean ground should be chosen, and after sowing the seeds they should be protected from birds and ■shaded .with scrim, manuka scrub, or boughs of trees. The covering soil for Conifers should not exceed %in in depth, while the eucalypti seeds should be just covered and no moresay about one-eighth pf an inch.. Sowing should be done during the months of October, November, and December. In good land or in warm districts a late sowing is best for Eucalypti, as there is then less danger of the plants becoming too large for sale transplanting. Germination will usually be completed about three to four weeks after the sowing is made.

DIRECT SOWiI'NG. j “When broadcasting tree seeds directly upon the land where the plantation or wind-break is required, the land should be prepared/ as for oats or other cereal crops or. turnip.. When a good seed bed is prepared the seed should either be sown by hand or through a grain mill. If the latter method is chosen some of the spouts should be put out of action, so as to permit of' the seed being sown In rows from 4ft to 6ft apart. The seeds- may be mixed with artificial manure to facilitate sowing. The covering should be the same as recommended when sowing in a nursery bed Great, care must be taken not to cover too deeply', especially with such small seeds as those of Eucalypts. A thin sowing of ryecorn or other quick-growing annual made along with the tree seeds is beneficial in protecting the tender seedlings from excessive heat or cold. The best time for sowing the Conifers is in the spring., from October 1 .onwards. Eucalypts may be sown at this time or not later than the middle of April. Seedling plants ofl Eucalypts are much more tender than the Conifers, and are very easily killed if hot dry weather is experienced while they are still young. Warm, moist conditions will generally assure a good crop; severe frosts are usually fatal. A knowledge of local weather and soil conditions is therefore necessary before deciding whether to make a spring or autumn sowing. Grass and weed growth is inimical to the growth of all trees ; therefore clean land, must be chosen - for sowing tree-seeds. Broad-cast sowing is, however, a wasteful method so far as t,he seed is concerned, because of the depredations of birds and rabbits, too deep or too shallow covering, and the consequent inability of the young plant to succeed where the conditions are uncongeniaL When estimating the quantity of seed required for an acre a big allowance must .therefore be made for possible losses. Except under the very best conditions' iti may be safely said that not more than 10 per cent, of the potential value of the seed will survive and produce the necessary trees. If! the prop of trees is required to be 6ft apart, (approximately), which means about 1200 trees to the acre, and the seed , is said to germinate at the rate of 30,000 to the pound, it will be necessary to sow 6%0z (about 1 ) to the acre to obtain the desired number. PREPARING THE LAND AND

PLANTING. “Whilst no,t being absolutely necessary;, in many cases it is certainly beneficial to prepare fhe land upon which the trees are to be planted some months ahead of the actual planting. If it is intended to plough the land, .the ploughing should be done in the summer and the land allowed to lie fallow, with occasional working fip keep the weeds in check, until the planting season comes around. On unploughable land the pits or holes for the trees should be prepared during the summer, so that the small spo.t where each tree is to be planted will have received the beneficial effects of weathering before the young tree is planted. To prepare the pits;, any grass or. like growth should be skimmed off the surface of the ground on a circular spot about 18in in diameter. In the centre of. this spot; a hole about 9in square and not less than 9in deep should be dug. An ordinary No. 2 spade gives the exact size. If-large rooted or balled trees are being planted the soil should be removed from the hole and placed on the clean ground alongside, but if small seedlings are to be planted it will be sufficient simply to reverse the sod into the hole and break it up with the spade. On very steep 01 stony land a mattock will be found preferable to a spade for the pieparation of the pits. Although the

spacing need not be done with absolute exactitude, a saving of time will result if some regular method. o£ spacing is adopted. A measuring stick will be sufficiently exact where small numbers of trees are being planted, but for more extensive work a system of sighting poles or a line will be found necessary. For either system a base-line must be chosen, and usually this is most conveniently obtained from an adjacent fence. If sighting poles are used), two' rows of poles about l.ft apart should be run at right angles to the base line at each end of the land being pßted. Ths poles in each row should be spaced at the. distance desired between the rows of trees. If 'she row of poles at each extreme end is put in first the intermediate rows can then be placed in position by sighting from end to end. Two persons are needed for this work—one to sight, the other to place the poles m position when the sighter gets them in line. The pits are thep dug parallel with the base line, the diggei keeping his row straight by keeping in line with the two poles at the end of the fow. The space between each pit can either be measured with the spade-handle or stepped ; great accuracy ; s, however, not required. The usual arrangement of spacing, the pits is in squares;, either by digging the pits in one row opposite the ones in the previously dug row, or else by digging the second row on a line midway between the pits on the first row, thus having them opposite on every alternate line. The main consideration is to give each plant an equal growing space both for t-s ro.ots and top, and although neither of the methods described above is perfect in this respect, the alternate- 1 opposite spacing is probably the better of the two.

PLANTING. “The following general rules should be observed: (1) Plant the tree no deeper than it was planted when in the nursery, (2) place the tree in the centre of the pit, so as to allow the roots an even chance all round. In very exposed places the plant, should be placed against the solid earth on the side off the pit opposite the prevailing wind ; (3) plant the tree in an upright position, with tap root going straight down and lateral roots spread out and not bunched together or bent; (4) Never a,How the roots to become, dry or even have the appearance of dryness ; (5) work the soil first gently in about the roots, then firm it well by tramping the surface. “Planting may be commenced in April as soon as the soil is moist enough, and should be completed by the end of August. Trees planted before the end of May generally give the best results. Planting in midwinter —June and July—should be done only with the hardy Conifers. Many failures in transplanting are due to insufficient care being taken to prevent the roots becoming dry. When removing bare-rooted plants from the lines for transplanting the roots should immediately be dipped in a "puddle” made by mixing soil and water to a fairly sloppy consistency. As the plants are removed from the ‘puddle’ fine soil should be thrown on to the wet roots to further protect them and make them less dirty for subsequent handling. The plants should then be wrapped in a wet piece of sacking and removed one at a time when planting. Trees in trays may be easily re.moved for transplanting if the end of the tray is cut out and the plants ■separated by running a sheath knife between the rows and cutting the soil into squares, each containing a tree.