ABORICULTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8388, 16 October 1890, Page 6

ABORICULTURE.

The following is an abridgment ot a paper read by Mr. Bays at tho last meeting of the Wade Settlers' Association, held on September 27, on the above subject:— You must not expect much from me, for I am more or less of a new-chum amongst you. One of the first things that struck me when i came here was the absence of trees in this neighbourhood— nothing but tho overspreading tea-tree, gorso, or fern. The dreary aspect of the landscape suggested tho idea to me of writing a paper on arboriculture, in order to impress upon you the advisability of going in more for tree planting in order to try and remove this dreary and forbidding look from the place. Some people may say that they know more than I can toll them. This, no doubt, is true, but wo must endeavour to draw out dormant knowledge that mutual benefit may bo derives. Trees are a great ornament to the landscape. How much it would improve our neighbourhood if there were more of them. Our friends, Messrs. Manning and Jack, have shown a good example by their extensive plantations, and it is to be hoped others will follow. How I would like to see in this country the hedgerows with trees planted in them, spreading their branches over our heads. I think wo might improve the planting of trees by the introduction of more variety. In general, 1 see nothing but some varieties of tho pine tribe or bluegum. I am not familiar enough with the native trees of Now Zealand. I have a few pohutakawas growing on tho clifFs on my land, and they look pretty—particularly so at Christmas time, when they are in blossom. The puriri (sometimes called-iron wood) is considered equal to English oak. The kauri I have seen but little of, but one tree 1 saw last summer at Mr. Lees'measured '24 feet girth at four feet from the ground. No doubt many of you have aeon far larger. If the fires of former times had left more of such like trees standing, or the woodman's axo of the present time could have spared them, what a different prospect the country would now possess. Wha tan improvement to tho streets of Auckland is the trees planted on the sides of them, a'"l it is to bo hoped this street planting will be continued. Tho ash and oak thrive well in this colony. The ash is a most useful timber for agricultural implements. We also know that the oak is a valuable timber. Why not introduce these trees, together with othors of a like nature, when laying off plantations ? The variety would greatly take away from the monotony of the appearance of the pine tribe. We will be compelled to plant more extensively than we have been doing in New Zealand, for our native supply of timber will bo exhausted in less than forty years. One amongst tho many good ideas started by our American cousins is Arbor Day, and it would be well for us if wo followed the example. A day is chosen during the planting season, when all the children bolonging to the schools of tho United States are assembled on the ground attached to the schools, and each child has to plant a tree and undertake to look after this tree until it arrives at maturity, inducements being held out so as to encourage competition in management. This early implants in the minds of the youthful a love for treo planting. This very useful idea has been introduced into New South Wales by Lord Carrington, and Canada has also taken it up.

The oak is known to havo attained to a great age. One in England is called Sir Philip Sydney's oak, and is supposed to have been planted in 1551. There is one standing on the banks of tho Thames, opposite Runnymede,- planted in 1215. It still looks healthy. California has some very large trees—one 17ft Gin in diameter, another 21ft, another 120 ft in girth, or 40ft diameter. The gum trees, of Tasmania grow to a great size—one is known to be 350 ft high. The baobab tree growing in Senegal is of great size and age. The age of this tree has been satisfactorily proved to attain 5265 years, or planted about the time when Adam was in baby clothes. There is a tree in America that Professor Henslow says is from 4000 to 6000 years old. From one of the Californian trees 21ft of the bark (taken from tho lowest (Portion) has been put up in San Francisco in its natural form. It encloses a spacious, carpeted room, with pianos and seats for 40 peopleat one time 140 children were in this room. Another peculiarity of the baobab is that as many as .'{o families can make their home in one tree. The tulip tree, a native of Cevlon, resembling a ship's mast, is peculiar for the enormous size of its leaves, one of them being of sufficient size to shade 15 or 20 men from 'the rain. A chestnut tree growing near the foot of Mount Etna is said to be one of the largest trees in the world. It is hollow, and will admit of two carriages being driven abreast.

Of our own trees the kauri comes first. Its growth is confined to the province of Auckland. It attains the height of '200 ft, and from 40ft to 60ft circumference. No other variety of conifer combines ho many pood qualities with great durability. Near the Thames there is an immense kauri tree, HOft high; circumference, 40ft. This tree is said to contain £1000 worth of timber. We must notforgot another peculiarity of the kauri tree—the gum that exudes from it, or did exude from previous generations of kauris. The collecting of this gum gives employment to 4000 men. The value of the export of kauri gum for the last 30 years is over £4,000,000. During 1888 it was £381,000. Timber export for the same year was £177,877. It seems a pity to see the timber trade handed over to strangers from the other colonies. The Kauri Syndicate now hold nine-tenths of our kauri forests. I have been told this company has reduced the wages of men employed when they were realising large profits. These profits all go to Melbourne. When all our timber, or nearly all, is removed by this alien company, how are we to get our supplies for home consumptiou ? Our only chance for providing a substitute is by planting. The province of Ontario, Canada, has 130,000,000 acres of timber, with only 10,000,000 acres cleared ; yet this province has introduced a Bill into Parliament for the encouragement of planting. When I first came to New Zealand there was some encouragement given to planting; now there is nono, and it is all in our own hands. Wo must not, when we plant a tree, expect it. to live to the age of the baobab treo. Still we must plant for posterity, and our children and children's children will play under -trees planted by us, and our children may see the poor, despised Wade thickly covered with noble trees, and strangers, as they pass along in the train, will exclaim, "Oh, what a lovely place!" Some of the great men of the present day are treo planters. Prince Bismarck states that he plants more trees than he cuts down ; Mr. Gladstone, on tho other hand, seoms to develop the bump of treo destructiveness, for ho loves cutting down trees; but his politics would lead him in that way. Mr. Lees considered that the great difficulty with regard to tree planting was the double fence required. Although cattle, as a rule, do not cat pines, still they will sometimes horn and tramp on tho young treos. However, we have an instance where the trees are growing well in the open. Mr. Leigh has planted gums and pines on his boundary line, and in general they are doing well. Mr. 1). Jack was of opinion that if the top of a tree was uninjured, in a short time a tree would grow well where cattle and sheep were running. Mr. Brunton said he would prefer teatree to hickory or ash for many purposes. Mr. Foley was of the same opinion, but he would include rewarowa. Mr. Manning, in moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Bays for his paper, mentioned that at one time he was at a soiree at the Wade, and, hearing a clergyman from Mahurangi speaking about the dreary look of our district, caused by want of trees, lie was considerably annoyed, but now he considered these remarks were only just. Me saw but little improvement. If some of the owners of property in the Wade township would go in for more planting it would be a great boon not only to themselves, but to the whole neighbourhood. A vote of thanks to the chairman (Mr. Lloyd) concluded the meeting.—[Own Correspondent.]