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Dunstan Times, Issue 565, 14 February 1873, Page 2

The accounts from the various agricultural districts i.f the Province show a very unsatisfactory harvest. The drought, everywhere has been most prejudicial to the operation of iho husbandman, who un.versally finds but a poor reve me for his labor From some most unaccountable cause the climate is becoming drier and drier every year; it is so perceptible there can be no mistake about it, swamps that used to exist in the ranges have, or are becoming dry, streams that once run large volumes of water, have now considerably diminished, whi o tn.n.y little watercourses have so diminished -that their existence can only be known while the snow lays thick on the ground. -There is nothing but drought everywhere, and in the sandy, gravelly districts, or where the soil is light, the business of the farmer promises to become tolaly extinguish'd unless a i change takes place, and this seems not to he possible. What are the causes | of this lamentable change in the clii mate is difficult to divine, still, at the i same iime, we may attribute it in a ! large measure to the destruction of ! the forests, wherever a breach is made in New Zealand timber it quickly dies out, the trees that remain appear unfit to stand the exposure, there is no Second growth like in Australia, the stumps roc in the ground and nothing remains to indicate that a monarch of the forest held once existence, 'file close feeding of the grass by sheep is doubtless another cause, where, a few years ago, fine grassy plains and slopes existed, there is nothing but the bare surface, what little herbage iliere is, is burnt up ly the sun, and nothing but barrenness remains The ploughing up of the few moist gulli.-s and flats all tend to rob the earth of moisture by causing it quickly to evaporate, and unless irrigation cm be resorted to, it will be impossible to say when the evil will stop. Planting trees will d mbtleas greatdeal, and every encouragement should be given to persons planting. The results that have been obtained within the last few years in Egypt prove that much-might be aecompli-hed by planting trees and by irrigation. The cutting of the sweet water canal has caused miles of country, formerly a sandy desert, to become fruitful, and when this has been attained under such unfavorable circumstance as a tropic 1 sun operating upon a sandy d«ser , what may not be accomplished he e when the climate is mild, and wat. r can be diverted almost anywhere This is a subject worthy the attenti n of every resident in the Province, ai d we do really believe that the evil wirh wh ch we are threatened, may, with a little exertion, be considerably stated, and at comparatively little cost and trouble.