140 



Canadian Forestry Journal, Septeinber-October, 1912 



Saturday noon. The luncheon was the 

 best meeting that I have attended yet. 

 It was not a l)usiness meeting in any 

 way, but just a gathering together to 

 get better acquainted. 



NEW ZEALAND REFORESTING. 



Pei'foiis who have recently visited New 

 Zealand speak in warm terms of the suc- 

 cess of tree planting on that island. The 

 authorities have discovered that at the pre- 

 sent rate of cutting the New Zealand 

 forests will not last for more than thirty- 

 five years, even if none of the standing 

 timber is destroyed by fire. They have, 

 therefore, begun the work of planting bar- 

 ren areas. Most of the districts now being 

 planted are a very difficult field because 

 they consist of the slopes of volcanic moun- 

 tains from which all the vegetation was 

 swept by an earthquake and volcanic erup- 

 tion about twenty five years ago. This has 

 left the hillsides covered with a deposit of 

 ashes, underneath which is a stiff clay, too 

 stiff to be swept away by the torrents of 

 water from the upland lakes, which at the 

 time of the eruj^tion boiled over and eroded 

 the hills. It was felt that the native trees 

 would not live in this upland, but good suc- 

 cess was met with in planting imported 

 larch, and of these about 3,500,000 trees 

 per year are being planted. The planting 

 is being done by prisoners of the better 

 class, that is to say, first offenders and men 

 who can be, in a measure, put on parole. 

 The officers over them carry no firearms. 

 Every man is allowed eight credit marks 

 per day for good work, and these credit 

 marks go to shorten his term in prison. At 

 the end of their prison term the prisoners 

 may remain at planting work, and for this 

 they receive two dollars per day. In this 

 way many are enabled to earn sufficient to 

 give them a new start in life. Up to the 

 i;)resent New Zealand has spent $930,000 in 

 this W'Ork, and it is expected that within 

 twenty years when the second thinnings are 

 begun they will have a very considerable 

 revenue from the poles taken out A\hich will 

 be used for railway ties, mine props and 

 fence posts. The experiment is considered a 

 success from the standpoint of both fores- 

 try and prison reform. 



TREES ON HOMESTEAD. 



On the average homestead of a ((uarter 

 section does it pay to plant trees for wind- 

 break? If so from what standpoint? — 

 M. E. K. 



Ans. — Yes, it pays any man who settles 

 on the open prairie to plant trees as soon 

 as possible. It pays in the matter of shel- 



ter from storms, making the home more 

 easily heated and the stock more easily 

 kej^t; it pays in avoiding excessive loss of 

 moisture from the fields incident to a 

 straight sweep of the wind; it pays in af- 

 fording shelter for stock from the hot sun. 

 Such reasons can be given in any number. 

 But chief of all from the money stand- 

 point is the increase in value of the quarter 

 section. If an anxious purchaser were to 

 go to your locality he would pay consid- 

 erably more for a farm on which stood a 

 house and outbuildings surrounded by fine 

 shelter belts than he would for similar land 

 with similar buildings but lacking the trees. 

 Then, do not forget the general satisfaction 

 of a fine house among trees. — Farmers' Ad- 

 vocate (Winnipeg.) 



So serious has the chestnut blight 



become in the United States that there 



has recently been held in Harrisburg, 



Pa., at the call of the Governor of that 



state, a conference of representatives of 

 the different state organizations to discuss 

 ways and means of dealing with this dan- 

 ger. The blight upon chestnut trees was 

 first noticed near New York City. It has 

 now spread till chestnut trees are affected 

 in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 

 Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virgi- 

 nia, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massa- 

 chusetts. It is estimated that it has al- 

 ready caused a loss of $50,000,000. The 

 damage is caused by fungi which work in 

 the inner bark. The damaged area soon 

 forms a ring about the tree and stops the 

 flow of sap and causes death. The result 

 of the Harrisburg Conference was a call to 

 the governments, state and federal, of the 

 United States and Canada to undertake a 

 vigorous crusade against the blight. Alreaily 

 a number of the officers of various govern- 

 ments are searching for means to destroy 

 this fungus growth and save the trees. 



The American Lnm'bermait, in pointing 

 out the great need of education on the sub- 

 ject of conservation instances a case in the 

 little town in the State of Washington in 

 a district that had suffered somewhat from 

 forest fires. A merchant of the town ex- 

 pressed to the representative of the ne\ys- 

 paper in question the wish that the entire 

 district should burn over, his view being 

 that mills would have to be erected to cut 

 the burnt timber as quickly as possible to 

 save it from insects, and thus the pros- 

 perity of the town would be immediately 

 increased. Washington is not the only part 

 of the world where this erroneous idea pre- 

 vails, but this instance emphasizes the need 

 of educating the general public on this 

 subject as rapidly as possible. 



