PLANT NURSERIES

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9210, 21 April 1938, Page 3

PLANT NURSERIES

EXTENSIVE FORESTRY AREA AT ATHENREB. 226 ACRES LAST YEAR. The national value of plant nurseries and the need of proper care and development are fully recognised ;iy the New Zealand Railways Department. In both the North and South Islands provision has been made fo. the planting of large areas with suit-; able shrubs and trees for the requirements of specific localities as well as for transplantation in other and more distant districts. At Woburn (Lower Hutt) last year 50,000 selected plants were packed and despatched to the department's forestry area at Athenree, near Katikati in the Bay of Plenty district. Every day is Arbor Day at Athenree where 226 acres of trees were planted by the Department last year. Seventy-nine pounds of seeds of various kinds were sown there and from the resultant crop nearly three and one third millions of seedlings were obtained, more than sufficient to plant the whole of the Athenree area. There are also plantations of vigorous growth at Ngongotaha and Rotorua in the north ami at Rolleston, Burnham, Chertsey and Stewart's Gully in the south. In these botanic pursuits, as in all its other undertakings, thoroughness is the department's watchword. ,