CALIFORNIAN SEEDS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 45, 2 December 1871, Page 6

CALIFORNIAN SEEDS.

The General Government have procured from California the seed of eight different kinds of American pine trees, amongst which are two kinds very rare and quite new toNew Zealand—the Abies Douqlasii and the Thuja Gigantea. Ihe latter is a pine of enormous size when at maturity, being second only to the Weilingtonia Gigantea ; the former being a very fine ornamental pine. For purposes of utility and experiment the Government have acted with wisdom in husbanding the supply of the seed, and with this object it is to be apportioned for culture in the various provinces. Persons belonging to the province of Otago to whom the matter has been referred are of opinion that only two of the kinds procured are suitable to the climate of that province, the qualifications of which are that they are of a hardy nature and likely to be able to withstand the effect of the severe weather of the South. The result derived from the experiments made in the various provinces will be watched with some interest and carefully noticed ; at least we hope the Government will take such precautions as will ensure that this shall be done in every case. Although some of the districts of the North Island, the West Coast of the Middle Island, and the Oxford Bush, Canterbury, have supplied our wants up to the present time, there is no doubt, as might have been learnt from an instructive discussion which took place recently in the House of Representatives, that our natural forests are rapidly disappearing while nothing is being done to replace them. True, we have the Forest Planting Encouragement Bill, passed in the session just closed, but it is very doubtful if its provisions will be given effect to any but the Canterbury province, where the utter want of timber has forced itself upon the attention of the inhabitants in a manner sufficiently potent to cause them to make this first move in a proper direction. But Canterbury is not likely to be the only province which will suffer from the shortness of supply. The present sources—the Seventy-Mile Bush, the Oxford Bush, and the available portions of the West Coast —must become exhausted in the course of eight or ten years, and the means of keeping up the supply is a matter which should receive the attention of every Provincial Government, as well as that of the General Government. In many of the finest districts of the colony, such as the Mackenzie country, the plains on the opposite side of the range, and many districts in Otago, a fresh in the rivers, with its contribution of drift wood, is anxiously looked forward to as almost the only means of obtaining fuel. This parcel of the Thuja Gigantea is the first introduced to the colony, being very rare and expensive even in America. A quantity of the seed is to be planted in the Wellington Domain, the beds and other preparations for its culture having already been made. Althoughjthe tree occupies several generations in arriving at maturity, it can be cut for building purposes before it attains any extensive growth. We shall note the result of the experiments at our Botanic Gardens, and we trust our contemporaries will do the "same in their respective provinces.