1919.] 
New Zealand Institute Science Congress. 
341 
Of course, much of the above quotation does not apply to the scheme 
outlined in this paper, as many of the remarks are applicable only to natural 
regeneration under shelter-trees, and do not have any bearing on the spread 
of forest from “ mother trees ” over country hitherto unforested. 
A residence of approximately ten years on the Hanmer Plains, together 
with numerous botanical excursions into the high mountains adjacent 
thereto, has afforded me opportunity to examine the conditions for natural 
afforestation in that area as regulated by soil, altitude, and climate. 
Also, a considerable variety of trees has been planted not only by 
the Lands Department, but by the Tourist Department and private 
individuals, and, as many of these trees have been bearing seeds for some 
time, a good deal of information can be gained by observing what species 
are being reproduced spontaneously and the conditions regulating such 
production. 
Schlich, dealing with the natural regeneration of woods as practised in 
European countries, goes very fully into the various systems adopted in 
the formation of forests by the natural spread of the young trees by seed 
shed from the parent trees, or, to use his expression, from the “ mother 
trees.” To quote fully the various systems in practice in these countries 
would unduly lengthen this paper to little purpose, for a special variation 
of the methods used in European countries would have to be introduced 
in order to meet the very different climatic, soil, and other conditions 
prevailing over the area of high country with which this paper proposes 
to deal. One system, however, may be specially mentioned, as it brings 
under notice the necessity of afforestation of high-mountain areas. The 
method is called by Schlich the selection system, and in Europe “ is con¬ 
fined to localities where the uninterrupted maintenance of a crop of forest- 
trees is necessary for the protection of the soil against heavy rain followed 
by denudation or erosion, avalanches—in fact, for so-called ‘ protection 
forests 5 in high or steep mountains.” 
The various systems of natural regeneration under review by Schlich, 
however, deal with areas already under forest and from which cuttings 
have been systematically made with a view to subsequent regeneration 
from certain parent trees. These have been left for the above purpose in 
groups, strips, or single trees as the forester may think suitable to the 
prevailing conditions. Over the area which is now being considered, 
however, no such forests exist from which natural regeneration could 
possibly be carried on—in fact, but for comparatively small areas of 
indigenous southern-beech forests (popularly and erroneously spoken of as 
“ bircb ”) in sheltered gullies, and now fast disappearing, the mountain- 
slopes are mainly composed of tussock-grassland. At a higher altitude 
the vegetation consists of a sparse covering of subalpine plants, which 
in places gives way to areas devoid of plant-covering where erosion has 
already exercised its evil sway. Under such conditions it will obviously 
be necessary to introduce the “ mother trees ” from which it is proposed 
that the natural afforestation of these practically treeless areas shall take 
place. 
In the countries already mentioned, trees of a character similar to those 
indigenous to those countries are used. But no indigenous New Zealand 
tree is in its special requirements at all similar to the trees used in European 
forestry. That is to say, our trees are evergreen, and there are no needle¬ 
leaved pine-trees, whereas in Europe the trees used for forestry are almost 
always deciduous trees or needle-leaved pines. The only genus of New 
Zealand trees at all resembling those occasionally used in Europe is 
Libocedrus , which is of the cypress type, so well known in the introduced 
Gupressus macrocarpa. 
