MAN’S LEAFY FRIENDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 30, 28 April 1927, Page 3

MAN’S LEAFY FRIENDS

THE CHARM OF TREES And, after all, the trees are our friends. You love to sit in their shade, to climb into their branches to swing from their sturdy limbs. Think what splendid decorations their leafy branches make for Christmas, and never a day passes but—scrunch! scrunch! —little sharp white teeth are biting into the finest thing and the best thing in the world, a juicy apple. Trees make the finest friends, but ilke all friends who are worth having you will have to trouble to learn something about them. Trees give us countless gifts every day of our lives. They give us many different kinds of fruits and nuts to eat. They give us timber to build houses, ships, tables, chairs, tools, fences, desks, floors. They give us so many “tree products” that it would take almost a book to tell of them. Rubber, turpentine, resin, dye, gums and perfumes are only a few of them. What would we do without rubber? There would be no tyres for our motors, no balls, no erasers. And rubber is only one of the thousands of tree gifts. You would expect us to treasure such givers of gifts as these. Yet we have been most wasteful. Chop! Chop! Everywhere men have been cutting down the forests that once covered the earth. China is a sad example of a country that has had no regard for her wood. There is almost no timber to be had there, and few trees are left to afford protection from the rain and sun. In the early days of our own land men cut and burned the fine forests with reckless waste. New Zealand is the only country in the world where the wonderful kauri tree flourished. Yet year after year the people cut recklessly away at the wonderful kauri timber, till now there is only one kauri forest left in the whole world. Fortunately this is protected, and on one would dare to cut down the fine old trees, which have taken a thousand years to come to maturity. All over the country the State Forest Service —have you heard of that? —are working to cover the waste places of the land with timber that will be valuable some day. The sandy shores are planted with marram grass, and in years to come, when the grass has grown, trees will be planted, and forests will grow where all was desolation. Away in Rotorua, in Hanmer, and in various parts of the country there are row upon row of young trees ready for planting. There is one little island in Tauranga Harbour which is just a little nursery of trees. We should try to become well acquainted with the trees —to know the various kinds, their habits and special traits, and to call them by name. We can begin by studying in our walks the more common trees and then gradually add to our list of friends. If thoughtfully planted and cared for, our friends the trees are able to help us in many ways. Think of the lines of trees planted in the country for “wind breaks,” and of the plantations where the sheep and cattle shelter. Why not gather a few leaves of each tree, and press them in a scrap-book? By adding a new tree-friend, now and then, to your list of acquaintances, you can soon acquire a goodly circle, and secure new leaves for your scrap-book. And the more you learn about trees the more you will love them. —W. T.