TREE – PLANTING PAYS.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1210, 25 February 1922, Page 8

TREE - PLANTING PAYS.

A FOREST OFFICER'S TOUR.

FOSTERING PRIVATE ENDEAVOUR

"I believe the Forest Service can sell two million trees during the pres»ent planting season." This what Mr P. M. Page, tree-planting inspector, says after a tour of the Poverty Bay and Hawke's Bay districts. He has been lecturing to farmers, and interviewing local bodiesi in order to stimulate an interest in tree-planting, and he is convinced that there is growing up a widespread recognition of the value of timber-growing.

Mr Page told a Dominion representative recently that in some places he had met with the argument that this was no time to encourage either the farmers or the local bodies to spend money on such an unproductive bus/iness as tree planting. 'Why," he observed, "the farmer cannot afford not to plant trees. He must increase production, and the judicious plainting of shelter trees will certainly increase it. The carrying capacity of much of the land in Canterbury, Hawke's Bay, and the Wairarapa could be increased twenty-five or fifty per cent by the provision of efficient shelter. If a local body or a farmer takes up planting for timber, the ultimate return makes* the proposition decidedly payable. "It is the policy of the State Forest Service," Mr Page continued, "to encourage private forest planting throughout the Dominion, and to render assitance to settlers who engage in the work. The service helps in four ways; it sells planting stock from the State nursleries at a reasonable price; it gives advice through correspondence and lectures; it examines areas and furnishes planting planting plans at cost; and it superintends planting operations at cost. Its aim is to solve tree-planting problems for farmers and for local bodies. It will give instruction not only about where to plant, but about when to plant, how to plant, and what to plant. 'We do not advise the farmers to plant trees over the best pants of their holdings, but to plant waste areas such as! rough faces, land that owing to erosion is of little value, or areas infested with noxious weeds. The planting of some of the fast-grow-ing conifers is the best method of eradicating blackberry in rough country. "Tree-planting may be commenced at anytime in April after good autumn raina have fallen. We have found that the best results have been obtained from trees planted before the end of May. In most districts it is not advisable to plant anything but the hardy conifers during June and July. In cold districts it is better not to plant eucalyptus until August or September. "For the production of farm timber eucalyptus will probably be found the most suitable, as they grow fast and produce durable fencing posts within twenty or thirty years. The pinus radiata, better known as the pinus insignis, provides! good shelter within a reasonable time, but the Douglas fir, though not so fast growing, is an excellent shelter tree, and we sometimes recommend it in preference to the pinus radiata. The Douglas fir produces' timber known locally as Oregan pine. It makes clean, straight poles, and at the end of 40 years is, worth about 10s per hundred superficial feet in royalties alone. So you see it is a good commercial product.

"During my recent tour I found farmers and local bodiesi much interested in tree-planting. Several county councils and borough councils are taking it up this season as a revenue producing proposition. Local bodies all over this island have been inquiring about the best kinds of timber to grow for electric power transmission poles, bridges and general construction. The Farmers' Union has given the service much assistance by convening meetings and by distributing leaflets and circulars to itsi members. "To say that at least two million trees should be sold this planting season seems a bold assertion; but I think from the interest displayed in tree planting that our anticipations will be fulfilled."