WATTLE GROWING.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3546, 20 November 1882, Page 4

WATTLE GROWING.

Twenty-five thousand pounds is, it is estimated, sent out of this colony annually for the purpose of buying bark for tanning purposes, and yet it would appear that this sum might with a little enterprise be kept in. The quantity of bark used is estimated by Mr dittos, who is an authority on the subject, as 3000 tons, which would make the cost about £8 per ton after making an allowance for a cost of carriage, insurance and other cbarges. The present price of bark in the London market is from £10 to £13 with every prospect of an increase. Our principal supplies are drawn from Tasmania and the southern Australian colonies, where the black wattle, which gives a better bark even than the oak, is an indigenous tree. But the supply from those parts is getting scantier as the land becomes cleared for settlement, and. as tho tree will grow luxuriantly in the North Island, there seems no reason why the industry should not be pursued by persons in Now Zealand. As the trees grow very rapidly there is no necessity to wait for long for a return for the outlay of capital. In the course of five or six years after planting, a small supply of bark can be obtained from the thinnings of a plantation, and the quantity would increase yearly for some time if the plantation was properly managed, until the trees were in full bearing. It is not necessary therefore to plant for one's decendants only, as is too often the case with regard to planting forest trees. Bark for tanning purposes will always be wanted, and there is little danger of any chemical substitute being discovered. The idea should recommend itself to settlers in the North Island, and wattlo bark should add another item to the long catalogue of products that can be raised in this colony.