The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1919. TREES ON FARMS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16507, 7 August 1919, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1919. TREES ON FARMS.

The average farmer in Taranaki lias not yet realised the value of trees. He wants grass, and perhaps some turnips or swedes for winter feed, and regards trees as taking up space which might otherwise grow feed for his cows. That is why in the past the settlor's chief anxiety has been to gel his bush down, and have a

good burn to make a clean sweep of everything. Slowly, however, it is being learned that if only as shelter for the stock a few trees arc a good investment. But there is very little systematic treeplanting and the best results' are therefore not being obtained. In a lecture to farmers at Euukura recently, Air. TV. H. Taylor, of the Department of Agriculture, pointed out some of the advantages to be derived from tree planting. He discountenanced hedges as giving little or no shelter, costing money to maintain, and being quite unproductive. But be strongly advocated belts of shelter trees of a fair width, which required only the same fencing as a hedge. In Taranaki probably the best plan is to plant the gullies, which are to be found on most farms, with trees, and to fence each side. Usually these j gullies are quite unproductive, jfthc bank's being too broken up to carry much grass; therefore nothing would ho lost by planting them with trees. In a very few years these trees would provide shelter for the paddocks from the strong winds and increase the productivity ox the soil. If suitable trees were planted they would very soon provide firewood and limber useful for a hundred and one purposes on the farm. By clothing the banks of the gullies with trees and thick vegetation the water in the little streams would be conserved to some extent and with suitable watering places for the stock would become a bet ter assel than they are at present. , The plantations would add greatly to the appearance and consequently to the value of the farms, ami they would yield sufficient directly and indirectly to pay the rales. Another consideration is that trees improve climate, and yet another that the whole countryside would he made much more attractive, with plenty of belts and clumjis of trees. One lias only to travel up the TUaiongona Valley from Lepperton ilnnciion towards Inglewood to notice how tree-planting has improved the country in every respect. The initial cost, especially of the necessary fencing, deters many farmers from planting, but there are few who cannot afford to do a little, and the results would be so satisfactory and so rapid if it is done properly that we feel sure that once a start was made something would ho done every year. It is not too late now to make a start, and let it he remembered that trees are growing while the owner is sleeping. Timber of any kind is going to be much more valuable in the future than in the past, and if a judicious selection is made a plantation will yield a revenue after a very few years and keep on giving a return without becoming worked out.