The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY LEVIN. SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, EXPERIMENTS AT WAIKANAE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 3 August 1912, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY LEVIN. SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, EXPERIMENTS AT WAIKANAE.

Lyk.vitai,i,v tho sand drift menace will be averted from this coast. It will become so acute and apparent, eventually, that the settlers will be inoyed to sustained action to prevent a crippling of their financial standing and incidentally that of the whole district. But why should settlers sit supinely awaiting the development of an acuter stage of tho trouble? It is bad now, in all verity. Yet there "is" policy of do-nothing being followed bv the majorify. Apropos of this "object, tho editor of The Chronicle, is in receipt of an interesting letter fioni Mr W. H. Field, who has done more than any other single sot-tler on this Coast to remedy the troubles occasioned by the sand drifts, and to develop lasting safeguards against its encroachments. In his "communication, Mr Field savs: -"T was sorry that the visit of Mr Goudi'c, Superintending Nurseryman of tho North fsland, to AVaikanae recently, i was not taken more advantage of i hy settlers. Mr Goudie was accompanied by Mr Phillips Turner, Inspector of Scenic Reserves for the Domini«n, one of our foremost- botanists, and the da.y spent in the company of these two gentlemen was

•l- most instructive and enjoyable ono. We visited first some of my native bush reserves at Otaihanga, >f which the visitors expressed distinct admiration. My only regret is that T did not save more from the nxe. Returning to Waikanao to an early lunch, w c then spent a long afternoon on my Ngarara property. Proceeding first hy way of the Beach road to Waimea, wo inspected mv plantation of pines, wattles, troelncerne, poplars, willows and rohinia, planted on a hare sand slope, much of it at one time drifting, on tho hanks of the Wairaea river. Though in exposed places the wattles showed evidence of damage from lns£ summer's winds, this plantation was pronounced a thorough success, the pines particularly showing excellent results for the length of time they had been planted, about six- years. My main object in visiting this spot was to obtain the opinion 0 "f my scientific visitors as to whether the rohinia, planted chiefly to provide posts in the future, was thriving sufficiently on tho sand to justify the establishment of further plantations. A decided opinion was expressed that the prospect of such plantations was a bright one, judging by the progress made hy th e young trees, about five years' old, inspected by tho party. We then proceeded to the beach, where the Waimea. and Ngarara streams form a joint outlet to the sea, and proceeded thence north for a mile or so to examine

the effect of my extensive marram and lupin work on the drifting sand. It was shown that several large drifts had already been completely conquered, and that, speaking generally, the work had boon a gratifying success. It is true that some areas planted in marram last spring had suffered considerably, from the "winds of last summer, principally through the formation of wind channels in the vicinity of steep dnnes and other obstructions. These are receiving attention this winter. Mr Goudie expressed a pronounced opinion that the fixation of the sand was now so far advanced over a large area of the property that tree-planting couM at once he safely commenced. For almost the entire sea. frontage o? the farm, about miles, an excellent forodune had been formed, chiefly i through the agency of the large I native silver sand grass, spinifex I

I liirautus. Behind this, for a, long distance, tlio lupin has obtained complete hold and will form excel- '» lent shelter for the young trees. My visitors wero of opinion thai tho ' marram, too, would form sufficient shelter for hardy pines and other i. gale-resisting trees. I enclose a copy, received by me tolday, of a list, kindly prepared by Mr Goudie, of the trees ho would recommend. , [This will appear in Monday's issue of The Chronicle.] j You will notice that he would begin , on the seaward sido h.v planting cup- ] ressus macrocarpa. for shelter, and behind these a forest of pinus insig»is. In addition to macrocarpa, 1 propose to experiment for outside, shelter, with pohutakawa, boxthorn, ligaio, kai-a-ka. akeako (olearia), and taupatn. It j s osscn . tial, of course, that stock, particularly cattle, should he excluded from the trees in their early stages. They would, of course, immediately attack the karaka and taupatn, both of which form excellent fodder. An inspection was made of my treatment of inland drifts, many of which have been very troublesome. 'f„ most r wises r have fenced them off and planted them with lupin. The smaller ones I have fascined with manuka before planting, and on som 0 of the . 1,,0r0 P c 'distent ones, in which destructive wind channels J, a d been orined, 7 l,avo had to erect open

break fences at right angles t,> the prevailing winds so a.s to chcck the l Z Ce ° f the ««»' the consefiutnt. sand movement, before puttPla»t*. I have still a large area of moving .sand untouched, which is rapidly covering grass land and rich flax but this T am attacking this M':ir as far as funds and labour • Slippl y M ' l " i,llfw - Mmy homestead a site was selected by Mr Goodie for the establishment of a . nursery to provide trees for future planting. On this subject Mr Goudie's advice, based on his long practical experience, was of the very greatest value. He strongly recommended a careful pei usal of the valuable and well known work of the late Mr H. J. Matthews, Chief Forester of the dominion, entitled "Tree Culture in ■Vow Zealand," published by tho Government printer. After examining a paddock of paspalum, both experts expressed themselves as satisfied that this grass should be sown extensively on sand dunes. Jt is true it shows little growth in tho winter, but in the dryest summer it is always green, and throws an abundance ot herbage, of which all stock ar e fond. My experiment in phalaris commutata was shown to be a failure, because although it has shown luxuriant growth during the

summer. the frosts have killed it liiick tii tlio roots. Buffalo grass is doing well, and forms excellent. sand covering. ICroni examples shown on my saik! dunes it is apparent tliat prairie grass, j>n 11iciilarJy lor winter food, if not heavily stocked, i s likely jtii 'lie a groat boon. My plantation <>!' Junius, golden and other willowy walnuts, aspens, poplars and other trees were found to he in a flourishing condition, notwithstanding the somewhat exposed .situation of many of them. The shelter plantations of pines, macrocarpa and wattles, though in .sonic cases only five years old. are taken the fullest advantage of by the stock. All plantations "f native bush have been carefully preserved and Mr Phillips Turner', as a botanist, found much to interest him. Qf orchard, work I Lave done hut little, but peaches, plums and quinces are all flourishing and bear 1 ffood crops. f ani this year obtaining, from the Agricltural Department, for establishment on niy lake sanctuaries, a quantity of plants of wild rice, a. foreign plant which is succeeding and spreading fast in the Kaipara district, and which affords excellent food for water-fowl. T hope in time to make my property an object lesson for tlio.« e who possess similar land."