The Daily Times. THE OLDEST MANAWATU JOURNAL ESTABLISHED 1875. WEDNESDAY. NOV. 12, 1884.

Manawatu Times, Volume X, Issue 1344, 12 November 1884, Page 2

The Daily Times. THE OLDEST MANAWATU JOURNAL ESTABLISHED 1875. WEDNESDA Y. NOV. 12, 1884.

Thosk who have land - which cannot be nfiliied. ih any more profitable way certainly cannot cb Wite)c than plant ii with . Rattle. A par]iamen^ tary paper just issued gives some interesting *s tO : the profits to be made by the cultivation of thii beautiful tree. The results of •iperimeatß made by the manager of the Riversdale Manufacturing Con?pany, AiicVlaud, state that ten acres have been sown for three years, and are now 12ft high. One of the trees growing by itself, and four years old, was cut down and stripped of its baric, which was dried and gave a weight of 561 b. This ac? cording to thu manager's calculation, would be equivalent to nearly 90 toBB per acre for four or five years' growth. In Victoria, the Gommißftiontrs who reported on wattle bark, ; !ound that the tree conies to ma* ; turity at eighfc or .ten .years. Trees iof eight inches m diameter, at the height or two fett above the ground, : gave from 80 to 401bs of bark, and firstholass trtes iewi. On« six yearold tree a little larger, gave over $cwt. of bark. "TSiperts find that with » proper «y«tem of training and pruning, mature tress may be made to produce 50 per cent more bark than m the wild state. One man o> great experience states : " With cultivation you can havg,ls,B6o troes .per acre, 15ffc high,' and 2£iri m .diameter. .At the end of T four ypars ;one-half must be thinned out, from Iwhich wbSild be ; obtained^" 401 b • f wattle per tree. This Wt ijld give 17 tons per ' acre,' and each :y«a'ri every alttrnate tree shpald be removed, producing about or over 17 tons per year, until at >.the^. end*, of the tenth year the yield would stand at 122 tons per acre." The estimate of a bark-growiug Company to be formed m Melbourne is also given. In this it is proposed to cultivate 800 acres at a cost of £6,340, the total receipts from sale of the bark at £5 per ton on the tree, being, set down as j£75;000. A Melbourne report says: ." Lsgt April some of our men who were stripping for us burned off a lot of rubbish from the stripping, and jußt : afte.i>:a shower or two feUf, A fortnight after there were thousands of wattles 6m high. The |wattle wood is highly prized by bakers, on account of its great heating powers, leaving little or no ash. It is virgehtiy sought after at all times, and it is ; worth m Melbourne, m 2ft 6in lengths, from lid fco Is per cwt. From the straight trunks there are very superior staves split for cooper's work. ]?or b.ef tierces no other colonial wood is used, it being the only wood that will nut s)ain the -meat.; It isalso ooming m for cabinet purposes, and looks very handsome when polished. We pay for stripping and bundling, including drying, from 50a to 40s per ton ; but on cultivated wattle plantations the price should not exceed 20a per ton, because . ibe trees are fI.H -"-together, and are much easier' stripped, »n aocoitnt of being pruned." :

Now that the question of the junction of the Gorge Railway has been definitely settled, we trust Government will also r.c^gniie ih.e desirability ef commencing the line - fiom the 'Palmerston end ias well as the .Gorge contract proper. We observe that Government has v»«ely adopted this course m roferenpe . to the Central rail ir ty, which is to be ...cqm« menced from Mar (on as well as from Te Awamutu.,The arguments jnfaVbrbf' commencing from- Palmerston ar* even stronger thaa those which apply to the Central line. In-tae fiwt place the bulk of the material required will have to be •onveyed via Palmerston, as the shortest and most economicul route ; supplies will have to be drawn from F.almenitou by the contractor* engaged, and no doubt the tact of ready conveyance of ; these astbf worka progres.l vfpuld, te a grieat extent, influence their tender's j and further, rhe railway will become; immediately; reproductive to a certaip extent so poon as A»b«rit is connepted; I with. Palmerston, :.j ;., , : ,, u \ ;.., ,i