SEES FOR FORESTS.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 165, 30 December 1926, Page 6

SEES FOR FORESTS.

YELLOW PINE FROM CANADA. Big Shipment to New Zealand. < < Forming the largest individual ship- . meat of the seed ever assembled in , the British Empire, 3200 lbs of pinus ponderosa (western yellow pine) seed were shipped recently by the Hauraki of the Union Company from the Dominion Government seed extraction plant at New Westminster, 8.C., to the New Zealand State Forest Service. Gathered in the districts around Lytton and Kamloops, near the western slopes of the Rockies, this seed is portion of a tree seed order, comprising pinus ponderosa, pseudosuga, Douglasii (Douglas fir), pinus murbyana (lodgepole pine), and thuja elicata (western red cedar)placed by the New Zealand Forest Service -with [ the Forest Service, Department of Inj terior, Ottawa. This seed will be sown I partly for the purpose of raising planting stock for the Forest Service objective of 300,000 acres* of artificial forest to be planted by 1935, and partly for sales of young forest trees to fanners, settlers, local bodies, proprietary and co-operative companies, etc. In July last the New Zealand Forest Service, -which in the past has had difficulty in obtaining sufficient ponderosa seed for its requirements, received advice from the Canadian authorities that 1926 w’as a good seed year l for this species, and that the seed col- | lectors would have a better opportuk nity to obtain seed this season than they would have for probably three seasons to come. In order to further assist the New Zealand Forest Service, the Canadian , authorities are furnishing small sam- ' pies of ponderosa seed from various localities and different elevations, so that seed most suitable for New Zealand conditions may be decided upon. The production of tree seeds through the Government seed extraction plant at New Westminster has (says Mr Edward Walmsley, Crown timber agent) done more to bring the forest resources of British Columbia to the attention of the -world than has anything else. Correspondence in connection with it has been carried on with afforestation agencies all over the -world, and a widespread interest has been thus created in re-afforesta-tion.

With the completion of the work of extracting yellow pine seeds, the extraction plant will start on other tree seeds, including Douglas fir, red cedar, hemlock, and spruce. Approximately 3000 sacks of Douglas fir cone have been gathered for extraction purposes this season, about 50 sacks each of red cedar and hemlock, while an additional 1500 sacks of spruce will be sent down from the Queen Charlotte Islands at the end of this month. These seeds will be sent to Great Britain for the British Forestry Commission. Some will be sown on the Crown lands of Scotland, and other quantities on areas in England that were logged off during the years of the war.