VALUE OF WIND-BREAKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20076, 13 October 1928, Page 22

VALUE OF WIND-BREAKS.

SELECTION OF BELTS. INCREASING PRODUCTION. Addressing a meeting of farmers at Greytown, on farm shelter, Mr. P. M. Page, oi the Government Forestry Department, said that shelter not only improved the appearance of the farm, but increased production, made the farm more profitable and increased the comfort of both man and beast, writes our Wairarapa correspondent. The early settlers realised the value of trees for protection, and many attained success in tree-plant-ing under most impossible conditions. Unfortunately the succeeding generations did not carry on systematically tho good work, consequently there was hardly a farm in Now Zealand that had reached its maximum of production, owing to tho lack o:t adequate and efficient shelter. Wind-breaks wero useful for checking tho drift of sand and erosion on hillsides, for the protection of stock from cold, rough weather, particularly sheep after shearing, for tho protection of orchards from the mechanical effects of the winds which strike the trees when they are laden with fruit, and for tho protection of all crops. The first object in planting shelter trees was to obtain an efficient wind-break, and tho specios to bo selected must be moderately fast-growing, must retain their branches, and must have a dense foliage, but a narrow top in order to evade undue shading. For single or double-row wind-breaks the coniferous species, which mostly fulfilled tho above conditions, wero Lawson's cypress and Beetham's cypress. For clay soil tho latter wero the hotter type of tree. Pines and macrocarpa, owing to their strong branching habits, were not suitable, but it was considered that much might bo done by selection of a suitable typo of these species. Growing at tho State Forest Service Nursery at Rotorua was a semi-upright variety of macrocarpa, which was considered to be an excellent type of shelter tree, but considerable timo must elapso before it could bo definitely stated whether it would reproduce itself truo to type. Goyen's cypress was useful for a single windbreak on small areas, but it was rather slow-growing. For single or double-row wind-breaks on largo farms it would bo found that tho upright Roman cypress was an excellent tree, and it was surprising that this species had not been more widely planted. On sites which wero too wet. to grow coniferous species, poplars and eucalypts would do quite well. Wind-breaks should be securely fenced from stock, and in districts wliero there wero many rabbits and hares it was better to erect wirenetting as well.