FOREST TREES.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19502, 26 December 1928, Page 4

FOREST TREES.

REP CEDAR FOR NEW ZEALAND ? SUCCESSFUL PLANTATIONS ON WEST COAST. The red cedar is going to prove a very; valuable and popular timber tree in New Zealand, according to experiments in progress, at the Government Forest Experimental Station at Eiinu, on the West Coast. There; an area of 7000 acres of all types"'of bush country has been set aside for experimental purposes, and is claiming the attention of Messrs C. B. Foweraker, and 3?. 33. Hutchison, of the Canterbury College School of Forestry, during the long vacation. During the past .month they have keen biisy with further research into the planting of exotic trees as weU as with the growth and management pf native forests. The young bush is dor ing exceptionally well, especially on jthe well-drained slope's. The American red cedar is outstripping the others, and is well-suited tq wet country, During the summer months the station is in very real danger from Are. There js a lot of fern which beepmps very inflammable, and it is only necessary for a spark from a bush locomotive to catch it, and much valuable research would The whole area is patrolled by least two men, and tlje Department has installed lire-fighting appliances there. Giant Horn-tail. Speaking the giant horn-tail and the danger to pine forests, Mr Tower' aker said it was to be found all over the country, but it had not yet reached the stage where it was a danger. He had seen it in Hanmer and Burwood plantations, and one had in pick, ing it out. Generally it attacked tne sickly trees, and he had also seen it in posts. Timber was' such a valuable asset that any pest which tended to destroy it must not be allowed to go nnassailed. 0 ,