Arbor Day at Alexandra.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 382, 3 September 1903, Page 5

Arbor Day at Alexandra.

A SUCCESSFUL FUNCTION.

The members of the recently-formed Reserves Conservation Society must have felt highly gratified at the warm enthusiasm displayed by the public last Friday, on the occasion of the celebration of Arbor Day, and the first treeplanting under the Society's auspices. The day, happily, turned out beautifully fine, and the town donned its holiday garb, business generally being suspended for the day. The first" part of the day's proceedings commenced at an early hour in the morning, when numerous willing workers prepared the triangular plot of ground at the lower end of the recreation reserve for the reception of the trees which it was intended to plant in the afternoon. Shortly after 2 o'clock the Brass Band mustered iu force at the town hall, and from there marched to the ground, followed by a picturesque procession of school children, carrying flags, &c—the sight, indeed, being one reminiscent of the loyal demonstrations that took place a year or two ago. On arrival at the ground, the various trees and shrubs were speedily arranged in their allotted places, the children being allowed to take a prominent part in the proceedings. The planting of an oak-tree by the President of the Society (Dr Gregg) was the signal for numerous volunteers to proceed with the process of planting, and within a brief period the whole of the available trees and shrubs were firmly established in their new homes, By this time a large number of people, including a goodly proportion of ladies, had congregated, and the President,in a speech appropriate to the occasion, thanked those present for the kindly interest they had taken in the day's proceedings, He hoped they would understand that the .work the society had undertaken was only for the public well-being of the place, and he thought the children now growing up would, in the years to come, look with pleasure on the result of that day's work. The idea of beautifying land by planting trees (the speaker continued) dated back to the days when Babylon was in all its glory, and about the year 80 or 90 in the Christian era Tarquin the Superb wrote a 6 follows to his son, " At the present day we have pleasure grounds situated in the very heart of the city, as well as extensive fields and villas." We sons of the Empire probably owe any taste we possess for horticulture to the Romans, as we read that in the first century the people of Britain were ignorant of the art of cultivating gardens, the reason given for this being that Britain's sons always came from a fighting stock and had no time and no inclination for studying this most important subject. Why should we not enjoy the beauties of life by delighting the eye with green verdure and stately forest trees 1 He (the speaker) would like to see every householder planting trees around their residences, even if each one only planted half-a-dozen trees. A man's worth as a member of the community wherein he resided could be estimated by the presence or absence of a garden. If a man had a garden it showed that he was of a saving disposition and could lay by a little money to buy trees. They wished to make the reserve follow the description of the royal garden of Henry VIII, which the historian wrote: " The royal garden is so encompassed with parks, delicious gardens, groves ornamented with trelliswork, cabinets of verdure and walks so embowered by trees, that it seems to be a place pitched upon by Pleasure herself to dwell in, along with Health." This was written somewhere about the sixteenth century, and we couldn't improve upon it even in our enlightened days. In this part of the world we have any amount of scope to work upon. Following ancient history they would endeavour to surround their pleasure ground by a sheltering hedge of evergreens, and plant the corners with ornamental shrubs. They also wished to build a summer house or pavilion which could be used by the Band, and, as soon as funds would permit, they desired to provide a bowling green, and a pavilion for the use of the public. The speaker went on to say that he noticed that the Government was taking a large amount of interest in the department of State Forestry, and they evidently recognised the value of tree-planting, as they had put a larger sum than usual on the Estimates for this purpose. ; Up to the present some two million I trees had been planted per annum, and ' only trees that would reach maturity quickly would be put in. The total number of hands employed was over 200, and each gang of men could plant 1000 trees per day. He had also noticed that the Government had stepped in to prevent the destroying of a beauty spot by a Borough in the North Island, and when Parliament helped on the conservation of trees in this way it was only the people's duty to assist in the good work by improving their own surroundings. He thought that in the near future Alexandra would be a summer resort for people from near and far, and the visitors would then see how go-ahead the Alexandra folks were. Now that a start had been made, he hoped that everybody in the community would take an active interest in the trees, and prevent any one destroying the plants, and be would ask all the children present to assist in protecting what was really their own property. In conclusion he hoped every one would become members of the society, and as the annual subscription was only 2s 6d nobody was barred by reason of the expense. At the conclusion of the president's address, a Gall fer tbm cWtfi was

heartily responded to. During the afternoon, abundant refreshments, provided by the ladies, were dispensed; and the inspiriting music contributed by the Band added much to the enjoyment of those pre sent.

Altogether about eighty trees and shrubs were planted during the day, the following being the varieties selected :—Sycamore, birch, spruce balsam, English beech, holly, English yew, cedar, mountain ash, laturnum, magnolia, lilac, wattle, yucca, inonymue Japonioa, Guelder rose, periwinkle, Crataegus, and pampas grass. The trees were supplied by Messrs Howden and Moncrief, of Dunedin, and arrived in first-class condition. Messrs W Noble and J Terry presented a couple of trees, which were planted with the others. The Society has ordered 25 Austrian pines and 25 silver firs, which will be planted along the side of the ground. It is also intended to plant some lupin on the fiat above the town, and also some poplars along the waterrace reserve. The lupin is said to be an excellent plant for binding the sand, and the planting of this wH be an experiment in this direction. In the evening a well-attended and very enjoyable social was held in the town hall, dancing being kept going merrily till midnight. During the evening songs were given by Dr Gregg and Messrs G Campbell and A Phillips; whilst first-class dance music was supplied by Mrs Burnside. The Society desire to return their best thanks to the several ladies and gentlemen who so liberally assisted to make the function such an unqualified success.