THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1926. A DAMAGING INVASION.

Wairarapa Age, 11 February 1927, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1926. A DAMAGING INVASION.

In view of the immense number of pinus radiata trees that have been planted in this country, a statement by Dr. Tillyard, of the Cawthron Institute, of which we published a sum- - mary yesterday must be regarded as distinctly alarming. Plantations of pinus radiata are regarded as an important, though subsidiary, source of future timber supplies, but according to Dr. Tillyard, all such plantations in the Dominion will bo made commercially worthless unless effective meas- . ures aro taken to cheek the ravages ( of the timber-boring insect known as J the Giant Horntail. Dr. Tillyard advises urgently that arrangements should be made immediately to import from Europe supplies of a parasite that will prey on the Giant Horutail. This advice should commend itself to all who have an interest in plantations of pinus radiata. At the same time, the disclosure that a quick-grow-ing exotic tree is thus dangerously exposed to an attack that conceivably may reb it of commercial valuo-<4>as a highly important bearing on general forest policy in this country. In his annual report for 1926; the Director of Forestry makes, amongst others, tho following observations on ‘‘Our Indigenous Forests and Their Use”:— The period 1905-70 will see the end of our original soft-wood resources, and from that time onwards New Zealand must look primarily to her manmade forests for wood-supplies; but in tho meantime wo must husband, conserve, and use our remaining forest wealth with tho greatest care, 1 for we waste every year, in the pro- I duction of 25 to 30 million feet of > sawn timber, five to six times as t much. . . r Pinus radiata plantations constitute a t not unimportant part of tho man-made : forests to which the Director of Fores- t try refers. What is tho prospect of r providing for adequate continuing sup- I plies of timber if our pinus radiata n plantations are liable, for practical i purposes, to be wiped out of existence? I This, of course, is not the end of the t matter. The. possibility that any exotic o tree that is grown easily and rapidly A in this country may be attacked soon- 'f

er or later by destructive posts, that will grow and multiply as rapidly as the tree itself, is one that needs to be kept in mind in. all developments of forest policy in New Zealand. As peste appear, means may ke found «f coping with them, just as Dr. Tillyard hopes that tho introduction of parasites will check the ravages of the Giant Horntail. Experience in some directions, notably in tjie cultivation of fruit trees, is, however, not altogether encouraging in this connection. An immense amount of spraying and other work is needed to keep down pests in our orchards. Tho growth of foresttrees is of necessity a much more rough and ready undertaking than efchard cultivation, and it is possible that as time goes o« the task of aoping with pests in plantations of introdu<od forest trees may assnme disconcerting proportions.

The danger fro which plantations of exotics are exposed in any case emphasises staongly the desirability of' making the most ®f our own indigenous forests as the source of continuing supplies of timber. That able and distinguished forester, the late Sir David Hutchins, whose reports may be said to have laid the foundation upon which our existing State Forest Service was built, was strongly and decidedly ©f opinion that the indigenous forest* of rhe Dominion should be its mainstay -where future supplies of timber were concerned. Although he recognised the value of plantations, Sir David Hutchins regarded their establishment as much, less important than the improvement of our native forests, and the adoption of such milling methods as would give unhampered scopo for regeneration and for the production of continuing crops of timber. It is at least a question whether this sound policy is being developed as it should be, and whether we arc not making the serious mistake of relying unduly upon plantations of introduced trees, which have yet- to prove themselves equal to the demands made upon them, and neglecting native trees firmly established in their own habitat.