Chapter XII: Forestry and Afforestation

“I will make them a forest”—Hosea xi: 12.

The timber industry is of such cardinal importance in the pumice area that it is deserving of a separate chapter.

I am a great lover of trees. The beauty, the comfort, the home-making qualities of groves of trees have always commanded my admiration. A homestead without trees is a barren and comfortless proposition.

The marvel of a tiny seed almost like dust — such as that of the eucalypts — rapidly expanding into a giant of the forest, is one of the most fascinating facts in nature. In October, 1923, I planted out near my house a seedling eucalyptus macarthuri a few inches high. This had developed in less than a year from an infinitesimal seed. Now the tree is easily eighty feet high, with a great spread, and I would be afraid to guess the number of tons weight in it; indeed, I think it must be greater than the tree mentioned in Matthew XIII; 32. I have cut down pines twenty years old which were ninety-five feet high, and eucalypts of the same age which gave seventy feet length of useful log. And these trees were not the largest, but happened to be the most suited for removal. I am filled with wonder when I look at my plantations and reflect that I have carried all those page 184 trees in my hand, and now one limb from one tree would be far beyond my strength.

In 1924 I built a shed with eucalyptus frame and pine boards (many twelve inches by one inch) grown from seed in fifteen years. This building has been painted twice and is in quite sound condition — though the sawn timber had been lying about in the weather for over a year before being used.

Where my house was erected, there was no growth more than three feet high, and naturally I was anxious to create some shelter from the winter blasts and some shade from the summer sun. I attempted to buy from the Forestry Department's nursery at Rotorua; but, though at that time more seedlings were being raised than could be planted out, I was not permitted to purchase any.

Under the mistaken idea that trees raised in Auckland would be too tender for the climate in my district, I imported two-year-old pines from as far afield as Dunedin. However, I soon learned that transplanting from Auckland did no harm; that is to say, the trees did not die. What they suffered I cannot say!

Soon I took to raising my own trees. I gathered cones from the best pines and ripe capsules from the eucalypts and opened them in the sun or in the gentle heat above the kitchen range after bedtime. On a surface made firm and flat by placing a board on it and then walking on the board, the seed was scattered and then covered with fine sifted soil with which a very little manure had been mixed. Over this a screen of ordinary scrim was placed so as to imitate the shade of the forest. Sown in October, with little attention beyond weeding, the seedlings reached a height of about nine inches by April, when they were wrenched in wet weather. Towards the end of August they were raised, the soil shaken off, the roots trimmed and dipped in a compost of cow-dung and fine earth and water. Lining out followed, with the trees about nine inches apart and about page 185 fifteen inches between the rows. Next April they were again wrenched, and in August raised, the earth shaken off, the roots trimmed and dipped in compost, tied in bundles and heeled in. Planting out was done between middle August and middle September.

Many other sorts besides pines I raised — principally eucalypts of various kinds, †oregon pine, cypresses, yellow †kowhai, and other ornamental trees.

Around the house I formed an arboretum of many beautiful trees — cedars, sequoias, thujas, †beeches, †spruces, and others, and nearby a plantation of native trees gathered from odd bushes in the neighbourhood.

I found direct planting of pine seed unsuccessful, but eucalypts did well in sowings made in 1919 and 1921. The ground was worked down as for turnips. The seed was mixed with about seventy-five pounds of manure to the acre — so as to enable distribution — and sown through the two outside coulters of the drill. The roller followed. In most places I had too dense a strike, and thinning and some transplanting had to follow; but that was all.

On one occasion I cleared and burned about an acre and surface sowed eucalyptus seed in the ashes. The result was excellent.

Of the three great divisions of the eucalyptus family, I grew with success gums and some stringy barks; but the iron barks and many stringy barks proved too frost-tender. The best varieties for my soil and climate I found to be macarthuri, viminalis, amygdalina, gigantea, coriacea, ovata (acervula) and gunnii. Fastigata and muelleriana did fairly well. Among pines, insignis (now dubbed radiata) ponderosa, maritima (pinaster) and muricata. Among cypresses, macrocarpa and lawsoniana. Also, sequoia gigantea, cedars (Libanus, Atlanticus and deodarus). Oregon pine (Douglas fir) flourished wonderfully.

Like all other useful things, trees have many enemies. Rabbits eat, and also scratch up, young plants on an extensive scale; hares bite the trunks of the young trees. They will run along a row and cut off twenty or thirty trees as cleanly as if it had been done with a knife. Then the †bronze-wing beetle will eat the leaves off broad-leafed trees; lice destroy the spruce; sirex juvencus attacks pines. When in Oxford in 1928, I saw experiments being made in one of the colleges with rhyssa persuasoria and ibalea cultellator as control parasites.

The last great stands of native timber — and especially of the useful †totara — are in the country round Lake Taupo, generally in a westerly direction; but they are becoming exhausted.

When I first went to Broadlands the totara forests were vast plains, and the great towering trees, many of them up to seven feet in diameter, stood so close together that they seemed to present an impenetrable wall. Gradually, fires made most serious incursions on these wonderful resources — fires lit to turn out stray cattle, or even a wild pig; fires started by careless smokers; fires lit to clear round timber to be worked; fires started in surrounding scrub country and extending to the bush. The first fire killed the trees but did not consume the timber. A second fire reduced everything to ashes. The communal ownership of the Maoris afforded no protection. No individual owner was responsible; no individual transgressor lost any more than any other tribesman by his acts of destruction.

It is evident that the great Kaingaroa Plains must have been, in post-eruption days, clothed in totara bush, for burned fragments of totara timber are frequently encountered.

In the earliest days of the development of my country, good heart totara posts six feet by four inches and six feet six inches long were delivered on to my land at £4 per hundred, and it took thirty years for the price to rise to £7 10s. Strainer posts, eight feet long and 8 × 8 inches were four shillings each; page 187 battens 3 × 2 inches and four feet long, twelve shillings per hundred. The only fencing timber I have bought recently was a few strainers at £1 each. Posts are now £14 per hundred in Rotorua and £16 to £18 in other places.

Now streams of heavy lorries day by day and at all hours of the day and night convey the timber to Hawkes Bay and Rotorua, the Waikato, and Auckland.

It is grievous to reflect that had these vast quantities of timber been sent by rail instead of by road, the saving in freight would have paid for the railway from Rotorua to Taupo and left a great asset entirely free from cost.

Taking the colony as a whole, the area of bush has shrunk to about one-third of its original extent, and forest experts declare that eighty per cent, of this remainder is over-mature and that there will be no increment of timber unless proper silvicultural methods are adopted.

To meet this threatened shortage of timber — which was evident not only in New Zealand but throughout the world — the Government in 1896 established a special Afforestation Branch of the Lands Department, and nurseries were established at Rotorua and also in the South Island. Planting was commenced in 1898, when a modest fifty-four acres was established at Whakarewarewa. A start was made at Waiotapu in 1901, and large-scale planting on Kaingaroa Plains in 1913. Large numbers of prisoners were employed on the plantations from 1901 to 1921, when they were withdrawn, principally on account of continuous trouble between them and the free labourers. The area planted was increased until during the year ended 31st March 1929, 60,600 acres were planted. Gradually the planting has decreased, until at present only about two thousand acres are planted annually. The State-planted exotic forests now cover the vast area of 430,000 acres, of which 300,000 acres are in the pumice country.

And at last, after a long waiting period, realization of this asset is to begin. Two State mills are being erected, one outside Whakarewarewa, and another subsidiary mill at Waiotapu. The main mill is upon the Swedish plan. The output will be used principally for power poles, fencing and box-making. There is to be a large creosoting plant.

It is devoutly to be hoped that in this case the end will justify the means, for these have cost as at 31st March, 1937, £4,283,068 as follows: Expenditure, £1,846,319; compound interest, £1,093,823; from unemployment funds, £278,589; cost of trees, £487,348; compound interest on trees, £410,793; land rental compounded, £166,195. Commenting on these figures, which are extracted from official returns, I remark that cost of trees would appear to be part of expenditure; the rate of interest is not given; the price of land seems trivial. The total area is stated at 459,688 acres, so that the value represents only seven shillings and threepence per acre, which is plainly inadequate. Of all plantations, Kaingaroa, in the heart of the Pumice Country, is much the most successful. Its area is 283,776 acres, and the cost £3 10s. 3d. per acre. The age is stated at twenty-six years, though the greater part must be much younger. The cost of the plantations varies vastly. Waiotapu, comprising 7,387 acres, is stated at £47 16s. 6d. per acre — age thirty-nine years. Conical Hills, comprising 4,355 acres, is costed at £55 17s. 6d. per acre at thirty-four years old, while Gimmerburn, of only 93 acres, stands in solitary magnificence at £197 per acre at thirty-six years of age. The total area of plantations in the North Island is 354,959 acres, and the cost £2,308,357, or an average of £6 10s. per acre, including compound interest. In the South Island the area is 99,476 acres, and the cost £1,842,876, a shade over £18 10s. per acre. Everything in the South Island seems to cost more.

Pumice land has proved supreme for production of timber. Many authorities claim that its only rival is a small area in page 189 South Africa near Capetown. It seems to have become recognized that the growth of a tree is dependent not so much upon the richness of the soil as upon the range of its roots, the amount of rainfall and the length of the growing season. In the pumice country these conditions are all ideal.

And the establishment of trees in pumice soil is remarkably easy and cheap. The old preparatory methods have been discarded. At first, with the guidance of a great chain with four foot links and about one hundred and fifty yards long, a good spit of earth was inverted at distances of four feet apart every way. This work was done in early winter and the soil turned over was mellowed by the frost. Planting was done in the late winter and early spring. This four foot planting used two thousand seven hundred trees to the acre. The use of the chain for lining out necessitated the clearing of the land. Now in suitable areas nearly all of this preliminary work has been abolished and the spacing enlarged to eight feet. This takes six hundred and eighty trees to the acre. Much country needs no clearing and other areas very little clearing, the low fern-gaultheria association providing perfect cover for the newly-planted trees. When the scrub is too heavy, widespread burning is practised and planting is done through the standing killed scrub. In patches where the fire has failed lines eight feet apart are cut to facilitate planting. The men proceed in gangs of between eight and twenty. For the outside men, sighting poles have been erected for the purpose of keeping the lines straight. The other planters walk eight feet apart. Every third step the planter jabs his spade into the soft soil, moves it back and forth, making an opening into which he thrusts the roots of one of the seedling trees which he carries in a canvas kit. Then he treads forcibly close to the young tree, so as to close the opening and firm the soil around the roots. Each man plants about one thousand trees in a day — or say one and a-half acres. Latterly an improved page 190 practice of making three cuts with the spade before planting the tree has been developed. This naturally reduces the number planted per day.

The original planting at four feet apart has been abandoned except for a few special trees such as macrocarpa. Seedling trees and labour used to cost many times as much as they do under the new plan. At first our Department followed European practice. But the conditions were so diverse as to be quite opposite. In Europe the land was dear, the labour was cheap, the growth was slow and there was a ready market for every stick produced. In New Zealand the land was almost valueless, labour was dear, the growth was rapid, and there was no market whatever for thinnings. It was long before these facts impressed themselves on those in charge of our Forestry Department. It was not until 1912 that the spacing was extended to six feet, or 1,210 trees to the acre. In 1922 the spacing was further extended to eight feet, or six hundred and eighty trees to the acre. Seeing that the mature crop is between two hundred and fifty and three hundred trees to the acre, it is evident that even now more than half the trees will have to be thinned out or permitted to perish by suppression. Still there is a tendency in the Department to revert to the six-foot spacing.

At first the trees planted were mostly †Larch, †Austrian Pine, †Corsican Pine, †Western Yellow Pine, †Weymouth or American White Pine, and some Eucalypts. Of late, predominance has been granted to Oregon Pine, Pinus Insignis, Western Yellow Pine, Corsican Pine, and †Western Red Cedar.

In 1923, private planting came into vogue. Great numbers of bond-selling, tree-planting companies sprang up. They were of very various degrees of merit, but it can safely be said that all of them have made a better showing than the tobacco, flax and tung oil concerns. The procedure was as follows: the promoters, or shareholders, bought a large area at fifteen shillings, twenty page 191 shillings, thirty shillings, and in exceptional cases even more, per acre. They sold bonds at £25 per acre, undertaking to plant and maintain for twenty years, when the bondholders would take over. The tree almost universally adopted was pinus insignis, because of its general utility, its comparative cheapness, and its certainty and speed of growth (except in very elevated or frosty localities). Representations were made that thinnings would be saleable from time to time and the remainder would be millable in twenty years and would come to be worth £500 or even more per acre.

At the commencement, the idea was to allot an individual acre to each subscriber, but it was soon discovered that provision of a dedicated road to each plot cost more than the whole outfit was worth. Then some genius invented the “bond.” Under this scheme, a number — usually one thousand — of bondholders were formed into a group and an undivided interest given to each bond binding the shareholders to do the planting and maintenance and to hand over in twenty years' time to the group of people then owning the bonds.

The idea caught on tremendously, both here and in overseas countries — Australia, India, Britain, and others. Great numbers were simply fascinated by the prospect of £500 in twenty years for the present investment of £25. These statements were supported by pronouncements, mildly described as unfortunate, apparently arising from official sources and enlarged and beautified by the vivid imaginations of glib-tongued salesmen. When saleswomen appeared, victims were hard put to it for ways of escape. One such came all the way out to Broadlands, but I developed a splendid defence technique. The lady simply gushed second-hand eloquence in the midst of which I would ask a question. After an attempt at an answer, usually unsuccessful, the fair creature had lost her way and had to begin all over again. So she became exhausted. I revived her with luncheon page 192 and thought I had seen the last of her, but next day I found her out in the paddocks trying to sell her bonds to my ploughmen on a deposit to cover commission and the rest at too much a month.

I think I am safe in saying that the average cost of land, roading and planting would not exceed £5 per acre: and, even when £6 5s. commission on the sale of each bond is added, the margin of profit would seem adequate. Of course the maintenance has to be done, but interest on the price of the bond will provide for that.

Recently the New Zealand Government has taken steps to compel the shareholders in these concerns to take the bondholders into partnership — doubtless a measure of justice; but it has put an end to the planting of trees. Indeed, in all spheres of business the advantage of the prevention by legislative means of money leaving the pockets of the foolish and coming under the administration of the competent, seems doubtful. The methods of the merchant adventurer may not always be above comment, but he does promote trade. I think it will generally be admitted that the great majority of the promoting companies have made a good job of the planting: and have handed over to the new combined companies really valuable assets.

At page 462 of the Year Book for 1938, the total “commitments” for investment in private tree-planting ventures is stated at £8,200,000 as at 31st March, 1936 — of which close on £5,000,000 had been paid up, and 300,000 acres had been planted — 270,000 acres with pinus insignis; 22,500 acres with other pines; 2,800 acres with †redwood; 1,200 acres with Douglas fir (oregon pine), and others — at an apparent average cost per acre of £16 13s. 4d. per acre. The unimproved land per “book values” of the companies averaged £2 15s. 8d. per acre. The process of arriving at these “values” would be interesting. The statements of payments for year ending 31st March, 1937 (vide page 388 page break

Eucalypts Twenty Years Old

page break page 193 of the 1939 Year Book) is rather startling: tree-raising, £3,612; land purchase, £28,460; establishment charges, £20,177; maintenance, £24,937; management, £86,299; commission, £81,632; investments, £560,997; “other,” £252,690.

Real values seem to take a back seat.

The great majority of private plantations have been established in the Pumice Country.

Besides these vast undertakings, quite considerable areas of plantation have been established by local bodies, the Railway Department, and private people.

The result of old-time planting of pinus insignis was, in 1936-1937, the cutting of 31,500,000 “super” feet-a figure exceeded only by †rimu and †kahikatea. State plantations and those of the bond selling companies contributed nothing to this result.

In November, 1921, Messrs. Cashmore Bros, most kindly allowed me to inspect the cutting of the pine plantations at Matamata which they had bought from the Government. I found the trees of a great height, straight and having no branches except a bunch at the top. The timber was being felled and cut into flitches for delivery in Auckland. I must say it was beautiful-looking stuff, straight-grained and quite free from knots. Some trees yielded one hundred and forty feet of milling length and cut up to four thousand super feet per tree; large numbers exceeded one hundred feet milling page 194 length, and cut over two thousand feet super. Examination proved the spacing of the trees to be fifteen feet by ten feet, twelve feet by twelve feet, and ten feet by six feet. There were a good many blanks, and roadways twenty feet wide had been left to give access. The age of the trees was from forty to forty-five years. The cutting of sawn timber per acre averaged one hundred and thirteen thousand six hundred and thirty-six feet super. This would have been higher had all the trees been insignis. Some were pinaster.

Enquiry at length led to the discovery of an old resident who remembered the establishment of these plantations by the late Mr. J. C. Firth. It seems the planting was effected by ploughing a furrow in which the roots of young trees were laid. Then another furrow was turned over on them — in the manner often adopted for the planting of potatoes. But of subsequent cultural operations I could learn nothing. I would, however, suppose that thinning must have been carried out. Had the trees originally been so widely spaced, it seems certain that there would have been many knots in the timber.

The royalty paid being two shillings and sixpence per one hundred feet super, it will be seen that the yield per acre was £142.

Again I ascertained from the trustees of a small plantation near Hamilton being cut out in March, 1922, that some of their trees yielded one hundred and twenty-eight feet of milling length and five thousand five hundred feet of timber. The trees had been planted about 1870, about eighteen feet apart, in rows sixteen feet apart. The wood was hard, straight in the grain and looked well when polished. The yield per acre was one hundred and fourteen thousand three hundred and eighty feet, and the royalty at two shillings and sevenpence per hundred returned £147 15s. per acre. There is great waste in cutting out a pine plantation. This is usually about forty per cent., but may page 195 run as high as fifty per cent. The figures I have quoted are nett board measurement.

There is much spread of wild exotic trees in the pumice area — principally pines of the pinaster and insignis varieties. The former is fairly fire-resistant, which helps its survival very much. Its seeds also germinate very freely after a fire. Around Wairakei and the Spa quite extensive forests have taken possession of the lands. In some places eucalypts have established themselves. A few odd trees of other varieties are scattered about.

As to the future: The area now planted — 730,000 acres — with an average cut of one hundred thousand feet to the acre and on a forty-year rotation, will return an annual yield of 1,825,000,000 feet, or more than six times our consumptive capacity — more stupendously in excess of our own requirements than is the case with our butter, meat and wool. If Australia will accept it, we shall develop an enormous industry — and it is about time that we got something to live upon besides grass. But if other countries in the up-to-date lunatic manner, say, “We would rather pay £1 for a piece of inferior timber which we have grown ourselves, than buy better timber from you for ten shillings,” a great disaster will overtake us.

If we and consumer countries enjoy the manifold blessings of free trade in timber it may well be that eventually an acre of plantation, even though the yield per acre be not attained and the period of growth be doubled, may acquire the value of £500 in paper money. But again what will £500 in New Zealand money be worth? Our “Pound” is worth today only about one-third of what it was when I was young. What our mismanaged currency will be worth when our planted forests mature no one can tell.

I can safely advise the planting of trees as an investment, but whether it will prove profitable to pay down £25 for what has cost £5 is another matter.

Before closing this chapter I would like to relate the fact that I extracted from the river-banks twenty-five feet below the surface some ancient buried logs. These were quite sound and I sent them to Auckland to be made into furniture for my house: but the merchants lost my boards. Fragments submitted to experts produced the usual controversy, but the weight of opinion seemed to be that the timber was kauri.