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Pahiatua Star and Eketahuna Advertiser, Volume 1, Issue 35, 5 October 1886, Page 4

Say the Wellington Property Guide ; —Here is an item of intelligence which should stimulate our country settlers to in for fruit growing:—“Last year there were 194.728 ncres of fruit orchards in Great Britain. This year the area has increased to 197,532 acres. Last year 59,975 .tore - W. re devoted to market gardens. There are now 59,478 acres deJ • lto thi par] oee." It »an astoaiehmg thing that more attention is not directed towards fruit-growing in this colony. New Zealand is admirably suited for the development of the industry, and vet the quantity of fruit grown here is far below the demand. Our jam manufacturers have to import pulp from Tasmania in order keep pace with the demand. This should not be the case.

A report recently presented to the \\ cllington Harbour Board has demonstrated one inqs>rtant and interesting fact, ft is that New Zealand totara has proved better capable of resisting the attacks of water and the teredo than any of the vaunted Australian and Tasmanian timbers hitherto imported at such heavy expense on the strength of their supposed superiority. Jarrah, red-gum, and ironbark, have all been tried in the balance and found wanting, w hile totara has stood the tost with virtually complete success. I he report states that whereas tho totara piles of the Queen's Wharf were untouched by the teredo, tho ironbark and red-gum piles were “ much riddled by the teredo, in one or two cases to a dangerous extent." also the jarrah sheathing of the Waterloo Quay breastwork " is becoming more and more dilapidated bv the ravages of the teredo.” The signal failure of the jarrah timl er, as well as the red-gum and ironbark, will surprise many staunch believers in the capability of that wood to resist anything and everything. It is clearly proved now, however, to l>e notably inferior to totara for subaqueous use. The remarkable durability of totara has long been known to old colonists. There are many |s>sts and piles of that wood which are known to have been 35 or 40 years in the ground or in tho water, which still remain apparently as sound at least US when first put down. Although -omewtiat brittle and short-grained when sawn, it is on the whole tho most valuable and durable timber of New Zealand, and in this latter res|>eet is su|M a rior to any iiui>ortcd wood. Yet little care is taken to preserve our comparatively limited forests of this fine timber from reckless waste or destruction ; and hardly any attempt is made to keep up the supply for the future by planting young trees, tMi th«» contrary, totara saplings are cut down by tho hundred for stoekvard rails, or any other purpose for which round timber is found most suitable, and the fire-raisers do not spare totara forests any more than others. It is time, therefore, that more stringent measures were taken to protect what remains of this excellent amt once abundant timber. The Forestry Department might with advantage devotu some sjiecial attention to the conservation and propogat i in of the totara. —Kennedy's Property Gnule.