GROWTH OF NATIVE TREES. 15 
growth averages only a little over three-quarters of a foot per year; and, 
further, to produce a 1-ft.-diameter tree an average of 111 years is 
required. | 
It will be seen also that young European trees at 25 years of age, 
grown in dense forest, have an average diameter of only 1°9 in. ; or, 
expressed in another way, to make lin. of diameter-growth 13:2 years 
are required; while their average height-growth up to 25 years of age 
is only 18 ft. + 25 years = 0°72 ft. 
Cluster-pine in the State forest of Leiria, Portugal, where its growth 
is seen at its best, has the following average height-growth :— 
At 10 years ri me i>, Ott: 
ce ee ey 2h 7 ... 46 ft. 
ae ae i :¥: ... 62 ft. 
fo | ie a +P ey 
It is open to any one to abstract the standard European forest figures, 
as I have done here for ready reference, and to compare them with Kauri 
grown under forest conditions, either as a planted tree or a regrowth 
tree in the bush. The following then becomes apparent :— 
Summary of Kauri Growth.—Kauri grows in thickness nearly twice 
as fast as the five chief European forest-trees, and in height-growth 
2°3 times as fast, taking the figures on Mr. Matthews’s table below. 
It grows about as fast as the quick-growing Cluster-pine of southern 
Europe. 
New Zealand Young Trees.—The table below is condensed and re- 
arranged from that at page 78 of Mr. H. J. Matthews’s book, ‘‘ Tree- 
culture in New Zealand.’’ A list is there given showing the rate of 
growth of Kauri and the chief timbers growing with it, in the case of 
trees planted by Mr. Hall, of Parawai, Thames. The list purports to 
show the slow growth of the native trees. It does the reverse, if we 
compare these figures with the rates of growth of European forest-trees, 
or, indeed, with the forest-trees of other countries, as I shall show more 
fully later. Enough has been said here to show that Kauri amongst 
forest-trees is a fast grower. 
Mr. Matthews attempted to explain these figures by stating that Xauri 
and other native trees grow quickly when young. ‘That was not the 
opinion I heard in Auckland; indeed, Mr. Cheeseman and others con- 
sider a slow growth at first as characteristic of the Kauri tree. In my 
‘“ rings-of-growth ’’ observations the ‘‘ dominated heart,’’ indicating 
slow early growth, is a common feature, 
Mr. MarrHews on GrROowTH OF NATIVE TREES. 
Rings or Years Years per Height-growth 
Years old. per Inch of Inch of per Year, in 
Radius. Diameter. Feet. 
Kauri .. 284 ' 6°26 SEB! ¢ 1-49 
Rimu Nee) i 772 3°86 1-11 
Totara ah wo 5°60 2°80 1°48 
White-pine ... 25 8°34 4°17 1°40 
Puriri .. 264 3°70 1:85 41 
Tanekaha .,. 24 6°86 3°43 1°29 
———— - 
—— 
Means ... 26 6°42 5 fel | 1°36 
