BELTS OF TREES ON FARMS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 144, 14 March 1939, Page 2

BELTS OF TREES ON FARMS

Protection For Stock •’ll takes a spell of dry weather to remind people on the lim'd what they should do.” said Mr- !<• A - Aicol, U1 ‘ speelor for the Welliugton Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on his return from a visit to country districts. ”1 think that iu the interests of Hie stock they owu of are pasturing every farm should be-criss-crossed with shelter belts of trees, but one can go through farm after farm iu the Mauawatu and Wairarapa where there are no shelter belts worth the name, aud the stock has to stand up to the heat of Ibe summer and the rigours ot winter without, much in the way of protection. People on the land in New Zealand have become so used to keeping their stock out iu the opcu throughout the year that they imagine it is good for them. They don't bold exactly that view iu Europe, There perhaps the winter is rather more severe than it is iu New Zealand, aud they house tlieir cattle in comfortable barns, and feed them under cover. “If 1 had my way,” said Mr. Nicol, “I should make it compulsory for every farmer to plant shelter trees according to his acreage, perhaps not all at once, but so much every year. This would be of immense after value, and not only to the farmer himself. It would put additional value ou the property, would provide adequate shelter in summer and winter for the cows and sheep, and, what is just as important to the farmer and tiie country, such general planting would improve tiie climate. Of that I am sure. Timber is getting scarcer and dearer every year, and as the trees mature they could be thinned out and the timber used for fencing and other purposes.”