CANADIAN TREES

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1931, Page 13 (Supplement)

CANADIAN TREES

TALLEST FLAGPOLE

(By

T.C.'L.)'

Visitors to the Royal Gardens at Kew will remember the enormous flagstaff in the grounds. It towers above everything and makes pigmies of the English and exotic trees in this, perhaps the most interesting and most beautiful botanical gardens in the world. The tree has a history which is worth relating-

It came from ‘Saltwater Creek, (British Coluntbia, not far from (Powell River, the paper works of which were described in this column last week, and it was presented by the British Columbia Government to Britain as a specimen of the marvellous tree growth of that interesting part of the world. When felled in 1916 it measured 237 feet in length and four feet in diameter at the butt and 14 inches at the top. It was trimmed to '212 feet, and transported via the long Cape Horn route to the Empire's capital, a distance of some 10,000 miles. The fir was (by no means the largest of its kind in British Columbia, but it was absolutely flawless and the finest specimen of its kind man had ever beheld. To-day it stands out like a beacon amongst the various beautiful trees of the world's richest arboreal reserve.

Around Powell River Douglas fir trees much larger but less symmetrical have been logged and rafted to the paper works to be cut and torn literally to shreds in order to supply the insatiable demand for newsprint. Some of these forest kings have measured over 300 ft. in length and 15ft. in diameter. As a comparison, one may instance the growth of such of the magnificent pinus insignia trees as 'have been spared iu Pukekura (Park, New 'Plymouth. The tallest there are under rather than over 130 ft., though the diameter measurement ds considerable, 'some of the 'best being 4ft. Ilins, four feet from the ground and tapering very gradually with the 'height. The Oregon, as the Douglas fir is commonly known, has different characteristics. It has great resiliency and strength, yet makes a fine pulping material, providing the fibre or background for t'he (filling pulp, the result of the mixture of sulphite and mechanical pulp being the newsprint as we know it and use it.

i In a few years the identical spot from which the Kew Gardens’ flagpole was logged will be under water, and canoes and boats will sail over its birthplace. For here the Powell River company are making extensions to their hydro works that will necessitate the flooding of an area in order to raise the level of the lake. 'The day of the fir and the logger in this vicinity has gone; it is now the day of electric development.

-But there need be no fear that Canada will be short of Oregon or other of its timber and pulping trees for many a long day. Forests of oregoiis and hemlocks and spruce still cover tens'of millions of acres. One may sail north from Vancouver and see an almost unending stretch of forest country on the islands on the one side and on the mainland on the other, and stretching back range upon range to the Rockies themselves. Here and there at accessible points scars in the landscape show where the logger has been at work, but Mother Nature has quickly stepped in and applied her regenerative agency.

In (British Columbia conditions for tree growth are more favourable than in other parts of Canada. The long seaboard is exposed to warm sea breezes that bring regular moisture, the soil is open, enabling trees to make good root growth, and the land undulating, permitting of perfect drainage. ‘The climate, of course, is not so equable as New Zealand’s, for though Vancouver is an ice-free port the fall of snow is considerable, For six months of the year, therefore, the forest trees of Canada make little or no growth, ‘but when spring is ushered in Nature makes up for lost time.

(British Columbia in early spring is a sight to behold —every tree and shrub suddenly bursts into a vivid green and t'he 'English .'bulbs and flowers give a colour to the landscape that is distinctly pleasing and impressive. Our comparatively mild winters do not provide the freshness, the vividness or the various shades of green of the colder countries. The difference between our seasons is so smalll that our trees and shrubs grow almost continuously. Even our grass in the coastal areas in favourable winters does not cease growing. In Canada, of course, practically all of the country is under heavy snow for from six to seven months in the year. Life in such conditions would seem insufferable 'by the person brought up under the higlijy favoured climatic conditions of New Zealand or Australia, yet the Canadians .adapt themselves wonderfully to the conditions Nature imposes upon them and carry on the work of the country happily and successfully. There are exceptions, of course. Life on the prairies is very hard and dull and uninteresting during the whole of the long winter months, when the whole country is under a heavy mantle of snow. As far as the eye can reach there is nothing to break the white monotony. Even the fences are invisible. The dwellings are of the makeshift kind, with little or nothing in the way of facilities and comforts. Bare, unpainted -weatherboards, galvanised iron roofs, with no surrounding gardens, no shruibs or trees, the dwellings ‘stand out stark and ugly in the landscape as you pass them in the rapidly moving railway trains, the greatest boon the settlers have in winter or in summer. It is no wonder that the settlers’ one aim in life is to make a competence as quickly as possible and retire into the comparative luxury of town life. Wheat-growing in the prairie provinces is the main, indeed practically the only industry, and unfortunately during the past two or three years the markets have been catastrophic. The prairie settlers have 'been grievously hit, and life to them must 'be exceedingly, hard and difficult this year. There is no retiring to the over-crowded towns and cities for them these days. They can only hang on and continue growing more wheat, hoping for better times. .We in New Zealand have our hardships and difficulties these days, 'but our lot is incomparably better than that of the Canadians, or of any other people in the world. 'We have no extremes of climate. We can keep warm in the winter and get enough to cat, and grow much of our own food if we care to go to the trouble, and the markets for our dairy produce and meat have at least vielded a return sufficient to enable us to carry on, but the Canadian w 4 heat farmer is up against an almost impossible situation, and has also to contend with climatic conditions against which the average New Zealander could, not gS-SSHId, gwi ■ -- • •-.— fei