TREES ON THE FARM.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 483, 16 April 1909, Page 2

TREES ON THE FARM.

VARIETIES SUITABLE. The tree-planting season begins shortly. . All farmers know well the benefits of trees on the farm. Good slielter belts of trees transform the oliinate, as may be seen on a cold windy day, when tho sheep and cattlo on a bleak exposed farm cease feeding and shiver in any shelter that they can fiud, while tho stock on a well-hedged farm graze on unconscious of tho storm outside. 'Ihore is value in shelter in tho summer also, for the. shade is then welcome to the animab. producing that rest from heat and tho teasing of flics which is so essential to the main, tcnanco of good condition in tho liorsos 01 the production of good beef in the cattlo or milk in tho dairy lierd. Shelter trees protect the crops from slinking and laying, aud givo material for firewood and fencing. Where the destruction of native bush has already been caused, and new shelters aro desired, one may derive some valuable counsel as to the varieties of trees to plant from the State Forester, Mr. Matthews, hi his book on "Treo Culture in Now Zealand," reference is made to the rapid growth on poor dry Canterbury soil of the English larch. On land which cost £2 per acre, trees of this species worn planted 17 years ago at 12 feet apart, giving 300 trees ;xr acre. The land, trees, fencing, aud planting cost altogether £1-1 per acre. £]. per acre would cover the cost of tho little attention given in subsequent years, which makes tho total cost £15 per acre. At the end of the seventeen years each trco was capable of yielding, on the average, two straining posts Bft. long by lOin. diameter, and four posta 6ft. long by Gin. diameter. Reckoned at (is. each for the strainers and 2s. each for thi>. smaller posts, the total valno of tho timber was about £1 per treo, less the cost of cutting (2s. per tree), leaving a net yield of IBs. per trco, or £270 per nere, Tho loss of rent incurred during tho 17 ywirs in \\\vv\\ the trees occupied the' land is a-scort-iimd 1 by tho f;Kt of adjoining land having Ixvii; let at 2s. pev ncro. Tho total rent or merest lost, therefore, amounted to 31s. per; acre.

OUier troos suggested by Uio Forester aro walnut, chestnut, hickory, sycamore, .iiul oak, which aro propagated by seed twni direct, in order that t.he taji toot nisiy bo prosorved. Hut, for hedge tiso especially. Uio trees suggested include borbens vulgaris, a fast-growing deciduous which wxin Incomes impenetrable on almost any soil or sitav-

.. -ation; holly, .particularly .suited for heavy, , damp land; cupressus which does well on-any soil if. not too wet or too dry; oupressus macrocarpa, which is suitable only for tall growth ,in deep soil near the coast; hawthorn or white,thorn, rather subject to , pests; ■.. cleagnus.,. umbollata, becomes stockproof in throo years from the cutting, but j requires, several trimmings every year; grisiI lima littoralis (or broad, leaf), one of the best native trees for hedge use,' and propagated .from cuttings or seed: privet, suiting any soil or situation; silver ake-ake, j thrives iwell near the coast; golden ake-ake, < ornamental and good shelter; pittospomm, preferably the Buchananii variety or tho j varieties Colensoi, crassifolium, ougenioides, fasciculatum, Ralphii, and tenuifolium; pinus muricst*,-.. resistant to salt spray; tho oucai lyptus varieties in tho following order of hardiness: pauciflora (or coreacea),igunnu, coccifera, .urnigera, muellerii, Stuartiana, Siebotisna, , amygdalina, regnans, obligua, I vimuialis, haomostoma, aad globulus (blue , I gum). 'Of the Australian eucalyptus tho tore- i ticornis variety (red gum)• is,very hardy, a i I rapid grower, even on poor soils, and valu--1 ewe for its durable timber.