"PLANT A TREE." BUT PLANT IT WELL

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 47, 25 February 1911, Page 9

"PLANT A TREE." BUT PLANT IT WELL

A GLANCE AT THE TOWN BELT. TO MAKE A CITY BEAUTIFUL. They spread themselves into the loveliness Ot fan-like lea\es; and over pallid flowers Hang like moist clouds; or, where hi"h branches kiss, Make a green space among the silent bowers Like a vast fano in a metropolis, Surrounded by the columns and the towers All overwrought with branch-like traceriesIn which there is religion, and the mute Persuasion of unkindled melodies. Odours, and gleams, and murmurs, which the lute Of the blind Pilot-Spirit of the blast . Stirs as it sa-ls, now grave and now acute. —Shelley. On a sunny morning a wayfarer pauses in Lambton-quay, at the Thorridon end, and looks south-west, above the jagged roof line of the shops. Red roofs embowered in green perpetual on the slope make beauty that thrills and warms. It is the brow of Wellington crowned with sweet-bay, but alas! for the cheek lower down and the chin. In tho south the bare wounded earth has only a few shreds of verdure. People, public and private, have mostly forgotten that the tree can be the tireless friend of man through all the seasons. There is no civic ardour for the arbour, though some tree-lovers do live here and do have a garland for their homes. PAST WORK ON THE HILLS. Planting has been done on the Belt, but time Has proved that some of the species set are not suitable.. Hard- . woods, such as the oak, the elm, and the ash, do not flourish. The parching wind stunts them and frays them. Gums, too, ar© rather a failure on exposed slopes or draughty valleys. In the winter of 1909 the relief gangs put in some thousands of robina (false acacia), the gift of a Hawkes Bay nurseryman. These were set on the spurs above" Haystreet and Grass-street, and many of them started life sadly. Many of the "unemployed" knew as much about treeplanting as watch-making. The unfortunate baby trees were grabbed by the "scruff of the neck," dumped into a hole, and clodded with clay. The cradle was a grave. Then 'the survivors were decimated by boys rushing down the slopes. They grabbed the trees to steady themselves in their wild romps, and thus some hundreds have been dragged out. The false acacia is a slow starter, but a quick grower- when established. It blooms prettily in the sunny season t but. is bare in winter ; it sheds the leaves. The experience, of 1909 is convincing proof that only^ skilled hands should set trees. Last year Mr. Glen's men planted some hundreds of pines in Newtown Park, and the list of the deceased ia barely above a dozen. The ground was trenched 2£ feet, and the roots were gently handled. THE WIND BOGEY. Pessimists say : "Why waste time and money in plantations on bleak parts of the hills? The wind will wither them." There is a pretty shrub which loves the wind. It is pittosporum crassifolium ; specimens may be seen cheerfully eating tlje teeth of the northerly by the quarry in Oriental Bay. The taupaia (coprosma) is also not dismayed by the wind. It will lean away from the blast, but keeps its ba-ck and elbows green. It i 3 a rapid grower ; it speedily runs up from a shrub to something twenty or thirty feet high, with a wealth of berries for the birds in summer. It is a sad place where the taupata will not accept a lease of the ground. A species cf acacia, commonly known as black wattle, is also a very hardy thriver. It has taken charge of a precipitous rocky face flanking the Te Aro baths, with plenty of nor'wester io the square inch. THE VffiTUES OF SCOTCH PINE. The Superintendent of City Reserves (Mr. Glen) believes that Scotch pine (pinus sylvestris) is best suited for the greater portion of the Town Belt. This is a very hardy tree, with truly Scotch adaptability. It speedily unfolds a soothing green canopy, and it also furnishes excellent timber. One -drawback is the carpet of fragrant, but inflammable, pine-needles ; vandals or careless persons may easily start a fire, and wipe out the plantation, in a dry summer. Yet, by judicious arrangement, this risk may be much reduced. It is possible, says Mr. Glen, to have a variety of pines to supply different shades of green to feast the city's eyes. Even the steep Tinakori Tange, now a wilderness of pugnacious gorse, can accept the Scotch pine; Glen has seen this tree set up sturdily on worse places. Let it be remembered, too, that the pohutakawa, crimson-crowned in summer, is no hot-house plant. It has blossomed abundantly on the Thorndon-es-planade, where the northerly and the southerly serenade. Mr. Glen is confident that the pohutakawa, or Christmastree, would thrive on many a, patch of the Belt If properly planted. His practice, eminently successful, is to give the babies a start in pots, • and when there is a strong clump of root' the plant is gently placed, with the adherent, soil, in a new home in the open. THE PROMISED PLAN. Mr. Gkn has a great store cf knowledge for the citizens' use when the promised new plan of the Town Belt is produced. The City Engineer's office has been very busy lately, "but it is understood that tho map is now advancing to completion. In the meantime those citizens who live in the midst of bleakness, by taking a little thought and a little _ trouble, can brighten their homes and incidentally improve their part of the city. It is easy to have a hardy tree put on bald vacant patches that cannot be put to other use. Mr. Glen says that he is eager to do. all in his power to help landlords or tenants who have a, desire to cloak unsightliness with healthy, beautiful greenery. THOSE BANKS AND CUTTINGS. Man shaved the hills long ago a.nd hacked their face. Gaping wounds afflict the eye all around. Yet it is a simple process to change those eyesores into a romp of loveliness. Ivy is best for some of the banks, Virginia creeper for other?. Nasturtiums, of all hues, will gladly run over day ; gazenia, the orange and the whitish, and tho ie-rs-plani are thankful for small mercies. The ivy geranium will live along en clay and almost on rock of the soft kind about Wellington. Enough has been written to show the Arts Club some scope for the energy which it is ready to give, in co-operation with the City Council. The chief task is to win the hearts of the people in beauty's caute ; the rest will be easy.