TREES AS GUIDES

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XVI, Issue 5346, 10 July 1918, Page 2

TREES AS GUIDES

TO THE QUALITY OF LAND. In a paper by Air J. Orchiston (late Chief 'telegraph Engineer) on the guide that native t.Vjcs'are as to the quality of the laud, that gcntlcnpn says:— -The class of tiees’growing in a native hush indicates whether the land will readily grow grass when cleared. For instance, good, sweet land will be dovertd with fruit-bearing trees whereas the trees stand on cold and indifferent land (will consist of the cono or seed-pod variety. The following trees and shrubs are sonic of the fruiting varieties invariably found on good laud:—Matai or black pine, miro, kahikatea or white pine, totara, tawa. tarairi. karaka, etc. All the above are rarely -found.oh poor land. If the bush wholly,.consists of fruiting trees as indicated, it is safe to classy the land as first-clast. _ The non-fruiting trees consist principally of the manuka, the different varieties o! birch or beech, kamahi, tauhinU, kauri, and the different varieties of. heathsv If the foliage wholly consists of the class of . h tree or plant life it is safe reckon the land is only: of third-class quality. Should the bna’i be a mixed on© of both fruiting and non-fyuiting trees, it may be reckoned as second-class land. It is • true that rimiTor ted pine or the rata o - may be found or gohd, biuL-bt. ..in* different laud, but.these are the excep- ■ tion, and they are mostly at their best-•:. i on second-class ground.” .