PARTY VISIT SELWYN PLANTATIONS; SEE AFFORESTATION METHODS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17862, 2 June 1926, Page 13

PARTY VISIT SELWYN PLANTATIONS; SEE AFFORESTATION METHODS.

To give the salesmen of the company an opportunity of seeing for themselves the methods employed in afforestation work in New Zealand, a party, of representatives of the staff of New Zealand Perpetual Forests, Ltd., visited the Selwvn plantations yesterday in company with the Christchurch manager of the firm, Mr H. A. Bxickell. During a comprehensive tour of the plantations the men were shown the results achieved by the Plantations Board in respect to a variety of trees, and they were told by Mr Robinson, the superintendent, of the ravages of the peSts which beiet the trees. Pinus insignis, it was pointed out during the trip, was an excellent wood for almost any purpose. In the future it would be used a substitute for the recognised woods in the Dominion today. These were gradually diminishing, and, owing to the long time they took to reach maturity, there was no possibility of the forests being replenished with recognised woods for manv years. Pinus insignis would have to be used. It grew quickly and it filled the requirements. Showing the remarkable rate at which Pinus insignis is capable of growing, a plantation was visited containing a large number of seven-year-old trees, the average height of which was twenty-five feet and the average diameter six inches. It was shown that twelve-year-old trees had reached a height of thirtyfive feet and had attained a diameter of fifteen inches, but it was explained that Pinus insignis does not reach maturity for building purposes until it has been growing twenty-five years. For wood pulp, however, the tree is ideal after it has been growing eight years and has attained a diameter of from lour to eight inches.