AFFORESTATION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 July 1924, Page 3

AFFORESTATION.

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ADY ICE BY STATE SERVICE) OFFICER. Some idea of the good work being done in the field ol afforestation bv the st.liool.s in Taranaki was afforded a Star reporter yesterday, when, in company with Mr*!'-. M. rage, of the State J«orest Service, ami Mr R. Syme. the Education Board's officer sn itervising the. w ork in this province, he was privileged to visit four of the schools which competed in .the schools afforestation competition at the recent Hawera Winter Show. Otakeho, Okaiawa, Ararat a and Ohangai were the schools visited, and from the keenness of the chiJdron.it was evident that the best way or convicing the community of the varu-e of afforestation hacl been found. The schools which have taken up atiorestacion have made it the basis ot their nature study work, so that while no extra time is lost, the value ol home building is also being inculcated m a practical manner. Much gooci work has already been done, and all the school grounds visited contained trees cf varying species and ages, but until last year alfoiestation had not been tackled in a practical manner. One year was sufficient to show what con to ne done in the schools, and it is expected that Taranaki w-ill now lead, the way for the schools in the oilier provinces. tspealcing, to the children and teachers at the, schools visited, Mr Rage Sll 6f? e st e d that the. competition next year should be confined to six species three comics, lor shelter purposes, and three gums suitable for farm timbers. The three gums he advocated were botryoides, gunnii, and viminalis, the first-mentioned of which had been found to thrive exceptionally well jn Taranaki. The gum seeds should be sown in boxes, benzine cases meeting the purpose, with shingle on the floors and holes in the bottom of each box to provide adequate drainage. When the young seedlings were about half an inch high they should- be transplanted into otner traps, benzine tins cut in halves lengthways being also suitable. About 30 young plants should be planted in each benzine tray, and care should be taken to space the; seedlings out evenly. After the transplanting, the trays should be placed in some shady spot for about a. week before being laid out end on m double rows, where they woyld -remain until the planting season. Hoyvever, every few weeks before planting out a spade should be run underneath each of the trays so as to cut off the ends of roots of the. young plants whiqh had forced their' way through the holes in the bottom of the trays, and were thus developing and crowding out their less fortunate neighbours. The other three species suggested by Mr Page were pinus radiata (pinu’s insignia) pinus muricata and cmiv-essus macrocapa. The seeds of these three shelter trees were -best planted in seed beds, the ground for which should be well worked up with the surface level slightly higher than that of the surrounding ground. In sowing the seed; it was a good plan to make- impressions on the newly worked soil with a. 9-in. board, leaving rows of impressions with 6in. between each row. The seeds would be sown on the compressed' earth, and then covered with sieved soil. Next the frame with the scrim covering would be pa-.ced over the bed and the earth thrown up round the edges lif the frame so as to prevent any draughts getting in underneath. When the seedlings were about half an inch high,, one side of the frame should be. raised, and a few days later the other side. Anally removing it altogether, and so hardening the young plants off. The seedlings remained in the seed bed for nearly 12 months, that was until September or October of the next year, when they would he “lined out 1 ’ in nursery rows’, lo inches between the rows and 3 inches between the. plants. However, before they were lined out they would require “wrenching.” In other words, it did the young plants good to have a spade driven into the soil\ in such a manner that the ends of the long tan roots were severed, . and the earth in’ which the plants were growing slightly levered up and loosened. The. top growth was thus cheeked and the plants forced to make fibrous roots. The first wrenching would lie done in April, and the operation repeated every two months until 'Tining out.’’ Thy plants would then he lined out in the nursery rows until they were planted out the following season, although they would require wrenching again a couple of months before planting out. Mr Rage said that in planting for timber the young trees should be put in from G feet io 9 feet apart, hut in planting for shelter pines should not be planted less than *l6 feet apart. However, if shelter were required urgently, a double row could be planted, and the second row cut out later, when the first row had grown sufficiently to meet all requirements. It was absolutely essential that the young, plantations should be fenced so that stock could not get to the young trees. The great demand for white pine fox butter-boxes was also mentioned, Mr Page stating that the supplies of that timber would probably not last more than another 30 or 40 years. Personally it was his opinion that it would bo the poplar that butter manufacturers would have to turn to in order to till their timber requirements. He had with him cuttings of six new species of poplq-rs imported from England, and lie gave them to the Ohangai children as winners of the shield to experiment with. They could been notes of the growth made by the different species. A suggestion raised at the schools visited was that the trees in the school groinuls should be labelled with their botanical names, so that the correct names would become familiar to the children. A couple of trees cf the ordinary variety of blue gum (globulus) were noticed in one of the school grounds, and Mr Page advised the teacher to do away with them, as. this variety easily contracted diseases, which would probably spread to the more valuable gums growing near by.