FARMERS AND FORESTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1921, Page 7

FARMERS AND FORESTRY.

NEED FOR PLANTATIONS. ADVICE OF THE DEPARTMENT. Mr. P. M. Page, lecturer for the State Forestry Department, addressed at Friday’s meeting of the Taranaki executive of the New Zealand Farmer*’ Union on the subject of forestry from the farmers’ point of view. He said that although he was not there to speak so much on the subject of native forestry, it was perhaps necessary to mention native -forest in respect to a planting scheme. Native forest was being destroyed faster than ever. In the Wanganui valley and all over New Zealand the land should never have been cut up and denuded of forest. The dearth of timber all over New Zealand was a serious matter. They wanted to conserve timber in every way. At the present time the majority of the mills only produced 40 per cent, of timber from the log contents. A few were producing 60 per cent., and if the whole of the mills could be induced to produce 60 per cent, it would conserve timber for 60 years instead of for only 40 years. In the past the bushmen, who were paid by the thousand feet, picked out only the best timber. Under those circumstances many feet of timber had been left on the sawmill areas. That was the thing they wanted to get away from, and to do this they were introducing a system of royalties. They could not blame millers. It was the fault of the regulations which allowed this. The miller was paying on his mill output. By a royalty they were trying to introduce a system through which he would pay for the whole of the timber. FOREST EXTENSION. Forest extension work was the phase of forestry which interested farmers most. The early settlers invariably planted shelters and plantations. But the genuine settler was succeeded by the man who was much more of a speciv lator, and he neglected to plant. If the generation which followed the original settler had followed in his footsteps in planting plantations they would not have suffered. This applied more especially to Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa and other districts which had suffered so severely from drought last season. Last season in Hawke’s Bay there was not a blade of grass and the paddocks were as dry as the roads. Although he did not say that the planting of trees would increase the rainfall, trees growing in large areas were conducive to rainfall. They influenced the atmospheric conditions and also conserved the moisture. After a good rain they generally had a southwest gale, which dried up perhaps 50 per cent of the precipitation in 24 hours which, by having trees they could conserve and also benefit the stock by providing them with shelter. Trees would also increase the produce. It did not matter if they were growing grass or anything they must have moisture. The Forestry service aimed to assist farmers in any way it could and was prepared to supply them with trees at a very low figure, to advise the best positions or best portions of their farms on which to plant, the best species of trees to plant, or assist them in every way. KINDS OF TREES. In a place like Hawera, near the sea, he recommended for an outside belt pinus muricata. It was not as tall a growing tree as the pinus insignus but it was a better shelter tree. It was only the first 3 or 4 rows of trees which suffered from the siylt laden winds. The eucalypti* was the best kind of tree for farmers to grow. Ho recommended the eucalyptis macrocarpa. the posts of which would last for 25 years and were easily split. He wanted settlers to get away from the bluegum (globulus), which had been planted practically all over New Zealand and in some cases had been a useful timber. There were, however, three varieties, two of which were not good timber. The macarthuri grew well in any place to half way up the mountain. The viminalis was also a good tree, and posts of it would last for 10 to 15 years. Some of the better trees, though they were not so hardy were trees the settlers should raise and experiment with. The muelleriena was a very good tree for railway sleepers, electric light poles, etc. The engeniodes was another good one. Then there was the stringy bark and the obliqua. The Douglas fir, more commonlyknown as oregon pine, was a very good tree and one which would do remarkably well in this district. It can stand quite a lot of salt. Anywhere it was wet and they could only get willows and popular*, but none of the other pines, it will flourish. For timber purposes it should be planted close together to get rid of the side branches. Californian redwood was a tree about which a great deal was not known at present. It was rather tender for the first two or three years, after which it was a fast gr-> ring handsome tree which provided excellent timber for joinery and general purposes.

Pinus ponderosa (yellow pine) was a hardy, medium fast-growing tree, and it would supply good timber. It could stand unseasonable frosts better than any other tree he knew of. When farmers planted for shelter, as soon as their trees grew up a bit they turned their stock into the plantation when a rough night came on and the cattle broke down the side branches, and this was the ruination of the plantation. For shelter purposes the Lawson cyprss was the best that could be used to plant on the windward side. The macrocarpa was another goakl tree. He also referred to the great use of the native cedar which produced a good timber. At the conclusion o,f the address Mr. F. Mills, chairman, tendered the thanks of those present to Mr. Page. Although tree-planting to a very groat extent was not practicable in Taranaki they realised the great value of it.