KARAKA FOR WASTE LANDS.

Shannon News, 11 October 1927, Page 2

KARAKA FOR WASTE LANDS.

Mr J. T. Walker, of Aranroho, has supplied the Wangamri Chronicle with the following particulars of a treatment he suggests for waste and inaccessible lands: "Collect a quantity of karaka nuts; sow or distribute them on the grass or on the rubbish on the surface. Do not cover with earth, as the seed will rot. The karaka is known as the greatest fodder plant or tree, affording the actually tested return per acre of from 200 to 250 tons of valuable food every five years when cut periodically above the reach of stock. The rapidity of growth is known to be ten feet from germination to profit in five years. The fruit is abundant and equally as valuable as the foliage. Page, birds and cattle gorge and fatten on the product, quite apart from its beauty and affinity of its clustering as a shelter. The karaka is not a native of New Zealand, Java Island being its home. The vast amount of young plants quickly exterminate all undergrowth and completely excluding light and retaining vast amounts of moisture in its velvety leaf and fibrous wood, arresting rapid evaporation from the ground. A further great advantage of this beautiful tree is that it will flourish on the hardest rocks and any exposed positions. It does not incorporate itself readily with our New Zealand forest."