The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, July 21, 1910. ARBOR DAY

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 868, 21 July 1910, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, July 21, 1910. ARBOR DAY

Mr Hhnnessy, speaking at the Arbor Day celebration at the local school yesterday, suggested that on a future occasion the children should be asked to celebrate the day by planting waste sand areas with marram grass.- One plant will cover three square feet of land. Provided temporary shelter were afforded the plants, and say each child planted only half-a-dozen roots, then multiply this number by three hundred and it will be seen that a vast area could be reclaimed by the children in one effort and in time beautified. We feel sure the children would be delighted to undertake the work and it would be celebrating the day in its widest sense. In other centres, where deforestation has taken place, the day is set apart to replant trees that once covered the laud. In this locality the sea, as it recedes, heaps up the sand and the drift proceeds inland covering up fertile country. We must deal with the sand before we can beautify. The best method of doing this is by first planting areas with grass and lupin. It is probable that the Government in the near future will compel owners of land to take measures to stop the drift on the lands they occupy, but the people themselves must move in the direction of dealing with public endowments, and as the children have an interest in such land it naturally follows that they would gladly help to reclaim and beautify it. We hope that Mr Hennessy’s suggestion will bear fruit next year.