PLANTING TREES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3334, 16 August 1926, Page 7

PLANTING TREES.

'Flic Halcombe correspondent of the Wanganui Chronicle contributes the following:—“ Timber is the one great natural resource that can be renewed'. Aiiorestution should therefore be steadily encouraged by Government, local bodies, schools, and the community. and tree-planting practised by land owners large and small. The timber supply is, indeed, a matter of national concern, Jn New Zealand >t must be borne in mind that the native forests are rapidly diminishing. .Moreover, countries from which New Zealand now imports certain timbers will in the not distant future be importers themselves and not exporters. Owing to the increased demand for all classes of timber every country is realising tile importance of conserving moisture, the beautifying of lands, the protection of buildings, gardens, and orchards, and the shelter of live stock from the heat of summer and the cold winds and frosty night of winter. The only place where tree-planting to any extent is being practised in these parts is on the coast from the mouth of the Rangitikei River to Foxton. ' Hundreds of thousands of the pious family have been planted in the sand, and although very many near the sea have failed to strike the plants inland are rearing their heads above the marram grass, and in a. very few years there will be a shelter belt of many miles.

Finns insignis is not the best of the family to plant in the sand close to the sea. Other countries have found that the ideal tree for the sandy coast regions is pinns halepcnsis. known familiarly as the maritime or seaside pine. This pine is grown extensively on the coast of Franco, more especially at Arcaehon. an inlet of the Hay of Biscay south of Bordeaux, where there are sand dunes up to 400 ft in height. This sand was drifting over the rich flats called “The Landes”—very much like what is occurring in some parts of New Zealand. The French Government offered a reward to anyone who could discover some means of stopping this drifting of sand, which was working inland'rapidly. A French engineer took the mattr in hand and sowed seeds of the maritime pine. Now there are large forests as thick as any New Zealand hush. The products horn the trees are turpentine, charcoal, and telegraph and electric light poles. The result of these trees lieing planted at Arcachon, which was comparatively recently a small fishing village, has been to make it a large and popular seaside resort A fine monument has been erected there in honor of the man who utilised pimis maritime as a sand-hind-ing agent, and thereby transformed the district.