PLANTING FOR EFFECT

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 150, 28 June 1938, Page 10

PLANTING FOR EFFECT

Provided that it is carried out in full harmony with the acslhclic features of the landscape, the scheme for tree-planting as one of the means for commemorating the centenary of New Zealand, advocated by the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry) in an address to the Wellington Beautifying Society last night, is a good one. Tree-planting in itself is hot enough. It may sometimes happen that trees planted too near the crest of a hill will, as they grow up, completely obscure and spoil the view from a high-level road. Wellington had a recent instance in the complaint of residents of Fairlie Terrace, on the Kelburn heights, that the plantation on the Town Belt in front of them had blocked out the vista of the city and harbour so long enjoyed by them while the trees were young and small. In other cases, local also, it has been found that removal of old exotic pines has led to a vast improvement in the charm of the landscape. It is thus a matter for careful preliminary survey and sound judgment where trees should be planted and what they should be. The native flora is not always the best. It all depends on the particular circumstances of the actual scene. Most people, for example, would agree that the plantation of rows of poplars by the roadside and across the. fields has greatly enhanced the beauty of the landscape in plain country like Hawke's Bay, the Waikato, and elsewhere in New Zealand. There are also practical problems in connection with road visibility and the danger of contact with power lines. At the same time, no other country in the world offers such opportunities for beautifying the prospect by treeplanting as New Zealand, so long as all the elements in the scene are kept in view and judgment is exercised in an effort to secure the optimum of aesthetic effect.