FORESTRY IN NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 14

FORESTRY IN NEW ZEALAND.

The Minister of Agriculture is reported to have said that the appointment of an expert in forestry would result in introducing a man who would have to learn his business; and on that point he is quite right. We have suffered too much already from cheap advice. But an expert in forestry, in learning his business locally, would do so in the light of his past training and experience which he would bring to bear on the work, and soon be in a position to advise growers in the particular district what trees to grow and how to grow them. Without a scientific knowledge of forestry, even after years of observation, his advice would not be worth having. The reckless indifference to the future which characterises the present treatment of out timber resources, and the want of steady, and persistent efforts to replace what has been cut down, is likely to play havoc with the continuity of our timber supplies. The output of sawn timber, which was nearly 414 million superficial feet last year, and is expected to advance to an average of at least 450 million superficial feet during the next 50 years, will exhaust the supply of indigenous timber in 40 years. The trees which are being planted at present will not be ready for milling till 20 or 30 years after that time, and that quantity will have to be imported. We need information on many aspects of the timber trade. We have grown five million forest trees, which are practically worthless, and we want to know the best possible trees to plant. That information is no use to us after the trees have been in the ground for some time, and we discover they • are worthlefs. When our timber is being thinned out wholesale there is no recuperative power without replanting. If judiciously managed where the trees are thick, there might be enough reproductive power left to resow the land with tree seeds after felling the timber ; but as a rule the sawmiller cuts straight ahead, without restriction of any kind, and leaves devastation and ruin behind him. In Scandinavia there is no such thing as cutting straight ahead on a large scale. The three methods of cutting utilised are those known as the " group," mother tree, and selection systems. The first consists of gradully clearing a circle until its diameter equals the height of the surrounding trees, and stopping at that. This is found to work admirably in providing young trees, and the same tliLlg could be done here. The second is used" where sufficient trees can be found, on the same principle as the group; while the third is adopted in the case of irregular or small woods. Dr Cockayne thinks that the forests of New Zealand and Europe are not analogous. The European or American forests, some of them artificial, consist of trees nearly all of which are available for timber; whereas in this country three-fourths of the ground is covered with unprofitable growth, and the methods indicated do not apply to our forests. It may be true that the trees are not thick enough in some cases; but very little is being done to regulate the sawmiller's work, and be slashes away indiscriminately. When the report states that " possible future changes are merely indicated to show that the Government is fully alive to the needs of State afforestation in all its varying phases, and is facing future needs with discrimination, it is really to be hoped that they are ; but when five million worthless trees are planted it does not look very like it. Mr G. M. Thomson sounds a note of warning when he says: "The remaining forests of°New Zealand consist largely of trees belonging to peculiar genera, which are slow 'growing, and we are not likely to reproduce them, as the whole genera of podocarpus (white and black pine and totara) and red pine belong to families closely allied to. yew. They are slow growing, and if destroyed we cannot look forward to replacing them again—at any rate, as timber trees,—and therefore we must replace them with something else. What is really required is accurate information as to each separate district. Farmers would plant far more extensively if they knew they were spending their money on trees that would do well in their climate, and be of some solid value 50 years or 70 years hence. The Government has planted an average of 2452 -acres per annum for the last three years, and has now planted out 33 million trees in permanent plantations; but it started 50 years too late. At present the farmer 5s at a loss to know what trees are suitable to his district and worth planting. No instruction of any kind is given or° availably, and the result is that the little that, is being done will probably prove useless 40 years or 50 years after this for milling purposes.