THE DOUGLAS FIR,

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12507, 21 May 1906, Page 6

THE DOUGLAS FIR,

i The timber .supply of Now Zealand is a matter which has attracted a good deal of rut ice in recent years, though it has not jot received the serious (attention thiit, its importance warrants. Unless far rnoro tree-planting is done than us carried out at present, thero must como a time when the dearth of timber will present a grave problem to residents of this colony. Already wo are almost within .sight of the extermination of the I kauri, experts having calculated that, nt i the present rate of cutting, the kauri forests will have become «thing of the past in about twenty years. In other parts of the colony tho hush is fast disappearing before tho advance of settlement and the demands of tho cities, and though tho Government is doing something in tho way of afforestation, a great deal more- must bo done if 'the planting of new forests ife to keep up with, tho destruction of the existing timber. In tho afforestation operations carried on by tho Forestry Department the necessity of replacing the native bush that is being destroyed is not lost eight of, but the Now Zealand bush, is of slow growth, and long beforo tho planted trees can come to maturity the demand for timber may bo exceeding tho fiiipply. It is therefore advisable to plant quick-grow-ing trees from other lands, and prominent among these, as being very suit- ! able for Now Zealand, is the Douglas fir. ! Concerning this noble tree, which covers leagues upon loagucs of mountain and valley in Western America, a correspondent sends us an extract from an Scottish journal, in which aro given some particulars of what is styled "a sensational crop of timber," tho Douglas fir plantation sit Taymount, in Perthshire. The trees were planted in 1800, and forty years later wero ! valued by an expert timber merchant at i £200 per acre, which represented an animal Teturn, of £5 per acre of poor J land. Between 1888 a.nd 1903 tfho trees grew so fast that the averago annual ! increment represented £15, a.nd tho J ratio was expected to increase still fur- | ther as the trees grew older and bigger. "The tetal contents per acre," remarks the "Forester," in describing tho plantaj tion, "is reckoned at 11,170 cubic feet "from trees planted in 1860—a crop " far exceeding anything recorded of " any tree as yet, in Britain, or else- " where. What weight of crop tho ! "trees may eventuaJly reach per acre ! "ouo can cn!y guess, but according to j " the rates of growth up till now, the ! " contents per acre must soon be i "doubled." Mr T. W. Adams, of GreerI dale, has ft high opinion of the suitj ability of tho Douglas fir for i parts of New Zealand, and if lit has not been largely planted jit has not boon for lack of his advocacy. He himself has planted many thousands in different soils. In his articles in successive issues of tho "New I Zealand Year Book' , he has strongly re- ! commended, that it be planted in localities where thero ie sufficient rainfall, I particularly in moist valleys, where its I growth is met rapid. He especially urges farmers to use it in f- r n-elter belts, as no other tree is more suitable for tho purpose than this beautiful fir, which ! has tho additional advantage that its I timber is very tough and durable. There J is rather a tendency on the part of some ! poop!o to run after the la-t new thing lin tree-planting, as in other matters, I and several trees have had a vogue out 'of proportion their merits. Tho ! utility of th? Douglas fir is beyond ail j doubt, and as itn suitability for New i Zealand is attested, by one of j our best authorities on ferest trees, ! much more. uc?o should be made of it I than has hitherto been the case.