A USEFUL TIMBER AND SHELTER TREE.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 98, 22 July 1902, Page 4

A USEFUL TIMBER AND SHELTER TREE.

Messrs James Laird and Sons, uurserymen, of Wanganui, \vrite to title N.Z. Dairyman as follows : Pinus Muricata seems yet praqtically unknown amongst our: settlers, who, when requiring shelter stuff, invariably plant up with Macroearpa or Pinus Insignis. The latter, while certainly good and useful in its way, does ix*t c nue out very favorably, in compitis )u with the Pinus Muricata. One «>f the leading settlers in the Wanganui distr ct some ten or twelve years, ago put in a plantation of the pine under notice, and makes a practice of adding to it every second or third year. Being of a practical turn, he ha,s erec ted a saw bench and from his original pine plantation he cuts'-out all the timber he requires for his sheds, boxes, fi uit casts, etc , all of which is sawn up at the homestead, the oddments and strippings being used for fuel in the household and is considered to be equal to rata for this purpose. So much for its value as a timber tree. As a hardy shelter tree it is unsurpassed. Planted in the m >st exposed situations it grows rapidly, yet densely and branches well down to the ground, affu-ding capital shelter. It transplants rapidly and with ordinary care (provided the plants .are well rooted) the percentage of deaths will be exceedingly small. Settlers should remember that plants are full of Lfe. and at transplant'^a- I time should be treated wit}]g care. One cannot expect, to have a successful ‘‘take in transplanting if the young trees h^( V e been kicked about an auction-*^-irt for days and sometimes or even when obt.uned■ f’cysh froirra nursery they are. often /eft exposed to drying winds and .‘or hours at a time. If it is deto plant shelter, it is also surely desirable to obtain good plants and use good care and common sense in the planting.