GROWTH OF TREES

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 140, 13 June 1918, Page 11

GROWTH OF TREES

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —Mr. H. H. Travers suggests that the growing near the Dun Line .wliicli I measured were on an averago seven - s older than I supposed them to bt. iiven if lie is right, his contention, merely makes them 65 years old instead of 58, and the comparison between the size of these trees and the size of European beeches 60 years old is not appreciably affected. But I am convinced that Mr. Travers is mistaken. A well-known former resident of Nelson made a contract with the company to fell, hut not burn, all the bush for a. chain in width on each side of the line. I have seen several photographs taken in the early 'sixties which show nothing but stumps and fallen timber in the vicinity of the railway. Of course, a 'few saplings made have escaped destruction, but they would be few and far between. Moreover, the original forest consists, and no doubt always did consist, almost entirely of old trees, with very few saplings indeed. On the ground beneath the trees successive crops of seedlings appear, which, as a general 'rule, soon perish for lack of light. But whenever one of the old trees dies or is blown or cut down, the daylight reaches the area of ground formerly shadowed by that tree. All the seedlings growing on the illuminated area immediately spring up, and fdhn a dense thicket, which gradually becomes less and less dense as the % stronger trees overshadow and kill the weaker.. Now, ! every visitor to the Dun Line must be struck by the density of the beech forest on the strip a chain above and i below the liae.. Theie 15in trees .quite

clearly represent, not the ..sparsely, sonl tered saplings, but the deiiteely crowded seedlings of 58 'years ago. The economic aspect ol the question I am..not competent to discuss, being content merely to record the facts about the legeneration of the beech forest. But, neverthelesSj I might point out that Mr. Tl'dvers is mistaken in supposing that beech timber lias nor value, I have to-day visited the chief timberyard in Nelson, and learn that they are milling considerable quantflies of * both Fagus fuses, and (''Vagus menziesii. The, forme? is quoted I at 26s 6d per hundred, and the latter, now being manufactured into threeply, at 18s 6d. ■ The great drawback to the milling of the fagus forests 16 that, in many areas, the majority of the old trees are rotten in the middle, or even hollow. But I am assured that in other areas nearly all the trees are sound and of good milling quality. Of course, the •iboles are rfiort as compared with those of the pines. In the course of a few days I will endeavour to show to Mr. Travel's the other measurements which h* asked for.—l am, etc., ' F. G. GII3BS.

TO THE EDITOR

Sir,—Mr. Hutchins, and all his supporters, always state the size of foreign trees grown in their native countries, and are very forgetful not to mention their sizes when grown in this country. Notwithstanding the terrible force of inexperienced knowledge arrayed against me, I still assert that the introduced foregt trees grow quicker in this country than the native ones. I call attention to a statement made by Mr. Hutchins at page 308, Agricultural Journal of New Zealand for October, 1916: —

"In all this we must be careful to remember that I am comparing the average growth of native 'trees in their forest homes in Europe, in America, and in JSTew Zealand. Then, too, we must remember that many trees taken out of the ehade and shelter of their forest homes and planted in the open are nearly like fish out of water. That i» the tendency with the native 1 trees of New Zealand: taken out of their sheltered homes they tend "to grow badly or to die. Kauri and totara are the least sensitive in this way. Naturally, taking the world through, for planting purposes, trees picked for their quick growth are to be preferred to either the ordinary forest trees of Europe, of America; or of New Zealand. It does not follow that rapidly-grown trees must necessarily produce inferior" timber. Closely grown insignis pine produces a fine-grained timber, and. the production of timber pei' acre is quite remarkable."

Pago 311: "To-day New Zealand requires large areas of the quickly-growing insignis pine for packing-case timber, etc. This can be produced in twelve to sixteen years. It will supply a great want, and certainly give^ a good return! for the outlay."

Has Mr. Hutchins forgotten what he 6ays about native trees and quick growth? How is it he does not reooinmend ally of these?

Page 311—"New Zealand Forest Plantations: .The forest plantations that have been made by the Government in open country are the redeeming feature in' all the story of forest waste and destruction in New Zealand. The growth of the plantation trees, especially at Rotorua, is often magnificent. After the ltauri trees and the beach (birch) forests, nothing I have seen in New Zealand has pleased me so much as the Rotoma plantations. For their ago there are no fhior timber plantations in the Southern Hemisphere." I ask Mr. Hutchins and his supporters whether they would plant, as the above have been, all native forest trees in the open, and without any shelter, and also in the same poor and exposed places that the introduced ones have been and can be?

I i'age 315: "The success that has been achieved in the fonest plantations, ' parti - ! ciilarly th« fine plantations at Rotorua, makes it quite, ck'ar that with ordinary business preiwutions forest-planting in Now Zealand is a State necessity of the first importance." Then why does My. Hutching urge the planting of native foreEt trees?—l am, etc., HENRY H. TRAVERS. 11th June.