THE EAST COAST RAILWAY ROUTE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 663, 13 November 1909, Page 9

THE EAST COAST RAILWAY ROUTE.

FROM TUTIRA TO MOHAKA. THE PROBLEM OF THE PUMICE LANDS. , THE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. ' |

. (By MAMOLM.'liiss, RE.G.SjV.;^vV;

. : :-\ .;.' .. ■■■■ '■■■'; ■ No.-; : '2/.-'.^---'- 1 /'v''- s Fora, distance , of .twenty miles from Petane the proposed Bast Coast railway would, pass through' excellent pastoral country,' the slower, valleys: of wliich contain a limited .area of agricultural '/land. Then,. for about fifteen miles it would go ' through', very-inferior country indeed." Perhaps I should add that at present it is inferior': country. , .-,'■ .In"the' future it is possible that. scientific ''agriculture ma>; alter the. face of 'tlio ' landscape.. .-;' At Tutira Station one is in a position to note the change in .the nature of the soil'caused by the deposits of wind-borne pumice grit from , the former outbursts of the volcanic region; The country underlying these drifts is composed, of what' is. known to geologists. as the Hawko's Bay and tho . Maungaharuru limestones. The former, in which there are large numbers of unbrokon shells,' is. found on. the eastern side. of. Tutira. More, to...the west is the Mnungaharuru' formation,, in which only crushod fragments of shells are to be found. Between the limestone-ranges there are conglomerate and sandstone formations,' and occasionally one notes sections of papa formation. The 'country for many miles around has been heavily sprinkled*, "with wind-borne pumice grit, and, as. :a:result, :we" have the. peculiar Result—peculiar,, at all 'events,, to : the eyes of a the. alluvial "flats are wretchedly . poor, .iwhile'tho steep.'hillsides make good grazing' country: The reason,'isthat the pumice has been washed off tho steep hillsides, leaving the original limestone land u> grow- good .grass, while ....the .-barren. ■ piimice has. been spread over what, in'olden times,'.might have been' the' , richer alluvial flats. Mr.Guthrie-Smith, who.is a keen and careful observer, has seen this country being grassed, or grassing itself, for the last twenty-six years. "Thus, for over a qnarter of a' century-he has watched the arrival. of. eacl. grass, its subsequent spread, and, in some cases; its decline, arid ho has a fund of valuable information on the subject. The long strugglo between the native and the alien species, ho says, still continues, and the indications point to the survival of the native varieties. ;Ono fact, that stands out prominently in connection with this country is'the enormously lessened fertility of to-day's surface soil as.: compared with its .CTassrcarrying powers in the early eighties. Thus, the ryegrass has thinned out, while' the white' clover,has practically disappeared from the. face: of thq land. I am led to believe; however, that after a number of years clover may again be grown. 'That, at all events,.: has. been ...the experience in other distrrcts, } where, oh'a pumiceous soil, clover. at first. flourished, then disappeared entirely, and subsequently reappeared; The sward of clover that covered the; hillsides of Tntira in . the eighties arid, early nineties I fed many, swarms of bees. Every hollow tree and every crannied; rock on Tutira contained a colony of bees. Now the, bees are conspicuous. only by their absence.' The conelnsion Mr. Qnthrie-Smith has arrived at is that with the. deterioration, of the sur face soils.the hardier native grasses tend to.resume possession, and that the alien grasses.are no more likely to permanently oust-the nativo grasses than the British weeds are likely'to destroy the indigenous wild flowers, only ono of which, has vanished from Tntira during , this' past quarter of a century. , . ; ,-, . It remains to be ascertained what the newer methods of cultivation will do in regard to improving the productivity of these pumiceous lands.. The landfill,- one day, beiyaluablo for afforestation .purposes, and I feel confident that in many localitios it! will bd also valuable for fruit-growing';': There are, "of.course, different degrees of quality in, pumice, as in other :lands,' and;while: much: of the piimico country ;may' be quite useless for fruit-growing on :com-:mercial"lij\es,-:theVo are areas of'black pumici ■spilTTSUch,as .at Tiuranga—where fruitgrowing iupon .modern , '- methods would pay, ' and ' pay' ,well. -If vp'lanfcil on virgin ' puurice soil; tho jtroes are liable,to.suffer from root fungus. It becomes necessary,'therefore,' to thoroughly sweeten the soil by, cultivation some months before planting. :• •'■■',■. : ... '•• ■ The-Department of .Agriculture at the fruit.testing station at Tauranga has established be : ydnd all daflbi.that almost.every kind'of.fruit ,can;-be. grow'nitin: the district... Pears,'in the' old orch&ds^ r established : by ex-military- men in the early days, are giving splendid returns/' One 'brehardist: -reports that.his trees'yiblded.an average of twelve-401b. cases per tree, Applesi. peaches, and nectarines , aredoing; equally, wellf .and in'specially. favoured localities citrus trees are giving good returns'.. Manuring and watering will no doubt play an important part in fruit-growing on pumiceous lands in this country. Generally; speaking, when- your trees are a-thirst you.'should' giyfl them; water; when they arc an-hungered give' them'manure. But tho fruit-grower must hayo knowledge;.of -these matters. . For instance, in .regard to : irrigation, water never, bo applied while the trees are .in..bloom, nor during the. ripening period, and «are". should:be taken not to. use'tod' <much watetf.. as; it-will lead to , soft' useless ;fr'ttit' and* weak'unripencd wood. :Manuring,, tog, .must, be--carried out on scientific ■ lines. 1 have' staled that'much'of. the land .bordering the -proposed ;line 'in this.particular locality, especially to. the westward, is pumiceons, and consequently of' poor quality. I feel- certain, however, that ■it is .capable,of improvement, and a railway that would bring to it manures such as superphosphates, bbno'-dnst,,, and basic, sing. at. comparatively cheap rates would bo the means of greatly increasing its productivity. There- is room for experiments; ; and, if it" is. proposed to build the railroad, the Government should undertake those experiments and settle the question within the next few years. Hitherto it has been the opinion of many that the pumice lands of the North Island are utterly worthless; but in the Auckland district excellent results are, T understand, being obtained "by the use of basic slag, shiploads of which are being imported from. Germany..: Indeed, from what I saw myself on this expedition,-it was plain.to me that good root'and even oat crops can be grown on properly-prepared soil. The soil requires manuring and consolidating,' and th«re is nothing better-for- it than the, tramping - it. gets when sheep and cattle are eating .off a crop of turnips grown .with, the assistance of" from ll to 2cwt. of superphosphates to the ncre. Mr. Guthrie-Smith is carrying out experiments that ..will be watched with interest.' His run is Native land, and he gets no compensation for '.-'improvements, so that'in his experiments and the expenditure of, his capital he .-will be working largely for the -Maori landlord. •■ . ■ ','■■.' ■•' From statistics gatharcd on Tutira for a considerable number of years I learnt that the rainfall was from 60 to Gs.inches in the the' year. Tho heaviest rain comes with an easterly or'a southerly wind; In December of 1908 there was 40 per cent, of possible sunshine. The average maximum ■ temperature during December (in a Stevenson screen) ■ was 69.18 degrees, and tie average minimum temperature was 49.31 ■ degrees. In the hottest day the temperature goes up to 87 degrees. In winter-taking the month of July as typical—the average of sunshine is 3 hours > 28 minutes per day.' The rainfall was 4.8G inches, falling on fifteen days." The average maximnm temperature is 54 degrees,. and the average minimum temperature 37.64 degrees. - It was a great delight to me during my all-tob-short stay at the. Tutira homestead to note the ■ careful way. in which the meteorological observations were taken and tabulated: In the absence of her husband, Mrs. GnthrieSmith saw'that;;th'o gauges'were attended to and that, the. maximum'' and minimum temperatures were accurately recorded.. It was with even, greater delight that L noted the preservation of native birds on the estate. Mr. Guthrie-Smith is a keen ornithologist,' and he has made a hobby of photographing the birds in their native haunts. Most interesting were his pictures of hawks and, their young, ,the tests of various birds, and of kingfishers feeding their young.. .The particular kingfishers photographed brought out two broods in the one jear. One .brood was fed mainly, 'on' lizards* the other" principally' on cicadas. Mr. Gnthrie-Smith is particularly anxious to have the run declared a.sanctuary for native birds, and I trust ho will succeed in this. He has idfntificd no fewer than '48 species of native birds on the run..' ' .-'.■■ ' On Saturday,' September 25, I left, behind me the amenities and the pleasant hospitality of, Tntira, and set out on the next stago of my -journey to. • Mohaka. '■" On some pumice land on the left a braird of healthy oats indicated that':cultivation' of such soil could bo 'successfully undertaken. Land was being ploughed -for ; and rye-corn 'is also to' be experimented -with. The land on the left continued ■ poor. in quality; but on the right, towards' the sea, tho limestone hills were carrvirig thousands of healthy: sheep. I reached Waikari, which is composed of a hotel,' in-timp for lunch, and, ,in •the afternoon drove on, to' Mohaka.where, there is a little,village situated,on the banks.of.a fine river near the.sea-coast. During the last few miles of my journey the. country .had improved ' considerably,- and; a,largo aroa 'of good pastoral' land was'again in sight The Monaka district is .capable of .iriujch. closer: settlement; , but. a railway Vis wanted :to 'open up: tho " country. Here, as elsewhere; the'-Native laud question is, to some extent, a bar to pregiese.