The Planting of Trees in Otago.

Cromwell Argus, Volume II, Issue 98, 26 September 1871, Page 7

The Planting of Trees in Otago.

Tha Evening Star (Duuediu), in a leading article in an issue of a re.ent date, says There is a vast area of land that might, with very little expense, be made exceedingly valuable, by planting trees adapted to the soil and climate. We hardly know any country that would be more benefited by the planting of trees than Otago. Anyone travelling through the Province must be struck with the bare, treeless •aspect of the country. For scores of miles, mountains and valleys maybe traversed without a tree being visible. Occasionally a patch of green trees, planted by some stj natter or settler, may re'ievetlie monotony, and here and there a belt of forest may be seen. But where there is indiginous timber there is waste, and as much haste is made to get rid of it, by burning or other means, as tb> ugh the noble forest tree were a noxious weed. Or Mueller, Government botanist of Victoria, has drawn attention to this subject in Melbourne, by a lecture ; for in Victoria they are even more reckless of their timber than we are here. Oe pointed out how, at diffirent elevations, varieties of timber might be grown, the beneficial effect that the culture of trees would have upon the climate, and the wealth that might be added to the country. Our Acclimatisation Society has not lost sight of this branch of its self-imposed duties, but, as in all,- other cases, private scientific enterprise is comparatively powerless for extended usefulness it must be backed by co-operation, and it then becomes a work for Government. The cost of one day’s deliberation in the Provincial Council would have sufficed to provide seed for planting scores of acres of forest; but this subject was really beyond the grasp of the legislative minds of our honorarium-loving representatives. We should have much liked to have reprinted Dr Mueller’s lecture, but it is more than we can grapple with. We, however, commend the following extract from it to careful consideration, for, although specially spoken f>r Victoria, it applies to New Zealand also :—‘‘Let it be well considered that it is not alone the injudicious

overstocking of many a pasture, or the want of water storage, but frequently the very want of rain itself for years in extensive woodless districts, which renders occupation of some of our inland districts so precarious. Let it also not be forgotten how, without a due proportion of woo Hau l, no country can be prosperous. Remember how whole mountain districts of Southern Europe became, with the fall of the forests, utterly depopulated ; how the gushes of wide currents washed away all arable soil, while the bordering fiat land became buried in debris; how its rivers became filled with sediment, while the population of the low lanli became involved in poverty and ruin. Let us recollect that in many places the remaining Alpine inhabitant had to toil with his very fuel for many miles, up to once-wooded hills, where barrenness and bleakness would, perhaps, no longer allow a tree to vegetate. It should he borne in mind that the productiveness of cereal fields is often increased fully 50 per cent, merely by establishing plantations of shelter trees, that the progress of drift sand is checked by tree plantations, and that a belt of timber not only affords protection against storms, but a'so converts sandy wastes finally iuto arable meadows ; thus ad ling almost unobserved, yet unceasingly so far, to tho iesources of a country. ”