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Show TREE PLANTING IN NEW ZEALAND. ZEA-LAND. During a visit in Now Zealand great improvement was nolod in the appearance ap-pearance of large sections of barren country, especially in the hill slopes In tho thorraal district. In the center of the North Island, by tho planting of milllonB of larch trees, In close, even rows, which havo given the landscape a bright, verdant aspect, whero before was only monotonous scrub or ash covered 'land, on which there was no vegetation at all. Tho. specially Interesting In-teresting feature of this great work of afforestation, which Is steadily changing the face of tho country, and which, In tlmo, will doubtless bo a source of large rovonuo to the state. Is that it Is carried on mainly hy prison labor and by the labor of discharged dis-charged prlsonors, who are given employment em-ployment and a new start In llfo at planting trees at a wage of $2 per day. I visited the tree-planting camp in tho famous Rotorua Hot Springs district, dis-trict, where most of the planting Is done on "pumice" land, under the shadow of Mount Tarawera, a volcano vol-cano whoso eruption twenty-five years ago devastated many miles of the surrounding sur-rounding country, which It covered with scoriae and a clayey kind of volcnnic ash. A great deal of this district was stripped of all vegetation by oroslon, caused by the sudden boiling boil-ing up nnd overflow of lakes in tho district at the tlmo of the eruption. Nono of the native trees of New Zealand Zea-land will grow In this volcanic area, and while tho valleys contain tine land suitable for agricultural and pas-torn! pas-torn! purposes.-on the mountain slopes, slop-es, which presented a most forbidding appearanco to tho eye, the land seemed seem-ed absolutely useless, until It was proved that imported larch would grow well here, give verdure to tho district, provont erosion of hill slopes in times of heavy rains, and become In tlmo a valuablo source of wood supply and of profit to tho Now Zealand Zea-land government. Tho trees aro planted in rows four feet apart, afterward to bo thinned to eight feet apart, and eventually, according ac-cording to their growth, to about sixteen six-teen feet aparL At the end of forty years it is expected that nbout 750 trees to the acre will remain. Vlco-Consul Vlco-Consul Baker of Sydney, Australia. |