ARBORICULTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 85, 19 July 1910, Page 6

ARBORICULTURE.

To tlie Editor. j Sir, —Your article o* above of a lew < weeks ago brought to my mind some i statements made by my father, who was ] a gold medallist of the Scottish Arbori- t cultural Society and a man of large i practical experience in timber growing. ' Profit was a secondary consideration on ' the estate under his control, large sums 1 being spent 071 beautifying and planting ' non-paying timber. Yet the profit per ' acre realised by sale of thinnings, oak ■ bark, faggots, etc., was in excess of that 1 made by any tenant on the surrounding farms. He always asserted that if he were allowed to work on strict commercial lines, lie could make timber culture one of the most profitable industries in the country. One drawback —the Long wait for trees to grow into profit —does not apply with equal force liere, wnere vegetation of all kinds matures much quicker than in England. In addition, we have large areas of virgin b.ush, which, if treated in a scientific manner, would vield an immediate, continuous and ever increasing profit. If the reekless destruction of timber continues, those who have the forethought to conserve it will reap a golden harvest. My father calculated that in view of the world's rapidly decreasing stock of timber, prices would treble in thirty years, and time has verified his prediction. There are many phases of the subject, istrch as the self-manuring properties of bush, its adaptability to poor land, and its value as shelter, which require too much space for a letter of this kind; but I will venture to record one personal experience, bearing on the latter point. About twenty-five years ago I was interested in some Wairarapa land. It was sheltered by two broad strips of bush, and carried, easily, more than half a beast to the acre, and when I left it, there was cocksfoot in some places, hiq«her than my boot tops. On J the' same place years later, the VnisTi had disnpponimT so had the 3 cocksfoot, and •. lev-' miserable cattle ' (fitting accompaniment to the scene) stoo® shivering r.«aij;st the wire fence, vainly endeavouring -to fliid a little protection from the bitterly cold wind. Residents had 7iot noticed the change to tlie same extent, but to me, who had left it a fertile little nook, it looked like a desert. —I am, etc., I Lemon street. J. J. HARKER. |