ARBORICULTURE.-II.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2487, 27 March 1882, Page 3

ARBORICULTURE.-11.

To illustrate my meaning, and also to substantiate the assertions which I have _made in regard to disastrous evils liable to be inherited by this colony if something is not soon done towarde the conservation of our forests and the formation of others, it would be instructive as well as profitable for ua to take a glance at countries which have been affected by forest devastation. Haying had occasion to traverse and make a special study of the vegetation in Cape Colony, the Transvaal, Natal, and SE. Africa up to Mozambique, I had impressed upon my mind a tolerably correct idea of the general aspect of the country, and also of the causes of the present disadvantages under which the whole of that region struggles in all agricultural and pastoral matters. Wo grumble in this country, but the obstacles under which the New Zealand farmer suffer are, comparatively speaking, nothing when we look at others, however they are on the increase, and unless checked will soon stand comparison even with the South African colonies. I should think there is no country in the world which has its history so plainly stamped upon its surface as South Africa, its outline, representing a series of steps from the coast to the interior, indicates without the aid of a geologist a series of successive elevations or recedings of the ocean. Its present flora and fauna are both traced from the north —in fact, a vast number of species of plants and animals are identical throughout that vast continent, and the inhabitants with their habits and belongings have a decided northern appearance. And even if wo had no direct proof of the Kaffirs’ origin, their laws and customs would have indicated a close connection with the ancient races of Northern Africa ; for if there is one thing which attracts the attention of travellers in Zululand more than another it is the great similarity existing between the laws and customs of the Zulus and the laws of the ancient Hebrews. But it is with the now nearly extinct forest vegetation we have to deal, and all persons who have travelled in lands even moderately timbered are struck at first sight with the naked aspect of the South African colonies. Starting from the month of the Orange Eiver on the west coast, and travelling south to Cape Town, then still following the coast in an easterly direction as far as Fort Elizabeth, for upwards of 500 miles, and continuing the journey for another 1000 miles along the coast, which now runs in a N.B. direction, we are led to believe that the country is comparatively wooded, especially the latter part of the journey. But this delusion is soon exploded when wo land, for in most places, instead of forest trees, we find a low, thick, and entangled scrub, ond only in few places would we discover real, genuine forest. Leaving the coast and going inwards from any given point on the semicircular coast line, and we bid farewell to trees, and soon to bushes. At first the traveller does not miss them, but when hundreds of miles of treeless, rolling plains are crossed, the eye longs for a look at a tree ; and when weeks of travel pass without the sight of a tree, the appearance of a diminutive bush is a source of joy. The vast extent of undulating grassland in the Transvaal, the bulk of which is pleasantly intersected by innumerable streams of clear water, naturally excites the wonderment of travellers in not having trees. The soil is exceedingly fertile, and very deep, resting upon a good bottom as a rule for trees, so that we naturally ask, Where tire the trees P The existence of a grand forest vegetation in bye-gone days, is evidenced by indications on every hand ; tnrf buried trunks and limbs of stately trees, layer upon layer of compressed leaves, tall and majestic veterans of the forest succumbing to the hard struggle against an altered climate, the absence of young trees to take the place of the old ones. The present arboreal vegetation, which in most places has dwindled down to mere scrub, is confined to kloofs (ravines) with perpendicular sides, over which the destructive fires have not been able to get ut their prey. Grotesque, solitary, burnt and charred trees still standing in the open, testify to the ravages of fire, and indicate that they were once kings of the forest, which once surrounded them, a fact easily conceived by the grass-covered stumps of others around. The Kaffirs are, and always were, a pastoral people, and there is little doubt that being a bastard race from the Arab and Ethiopian, they had to seek lands of their own. As a matter of compulsion, they travelled south, and bringing flocks, soon had to resort to bush fires for the purpose of clearing away tall dead grass, and so produce fresh growth for their cattle. Generation after generation passes away. The tribes increase, and with them the flocks increase. New lands have to be cleared by fire, and the sad havoc goes on until the only forests worth speaking of are limited to districts occupied by the Tsetse fly, which will not admit domesticated animals within its range. This is to me a conclusive point, clearly confirming the idea that the pastoral habits of the people causing them to fire the country for the purpose of obtaining pasture, has been the cause of the present bareness of South Africa. Lowering >ts forests the rainfall decreased, and as a proof of once posseseing a moist atmosphere the empty riverbeds, others transformed from a continuous line of water to a chain of pools, sites of by-gone waterfalls and innumerable grassy basins can be mentioned. In fact the whole country beare testimony to the once forest clad aspect and moist climate. Even during the recollection of old residents vast changes have taken place in the climate, and it is a common occurrence to see the ancient sites of Kaffir gardens now no longer capable of being cultivated on account of the drier nature of the country. This deterioration is going cn as fast as ever ; bit by bit the small proportion of bush left is diminishing. The terrible grass fires on the highlands often descend into the Tsetse fly districts, where the forest has hitherto remained undisturbed. I have myself travelled for three days in the wake of a forest fire in those districts, and could plainly see that before many years scarcely a vestige of South African forest vegetion would be left. Of course steps have been taken to alleviate the present evils resting upon that country. I have often been struck with surprise at the glorious ideas promulgated out here in regard to South Africa. It has often been held up as a sort of Eldorado, a paradise, just in the same manner as New Zealand is praised up when you are out of it. But any man who has crossed and re-crossed the South African Colonies, &0., must confess that it would be difficult to find a portion of this world in possession of more drawbacks to agriculture than that country. The uncertainty of rainfall, destructive hailstorms occasionally, immense armies _of locusts crossing the country and demolishing all vegetation in their tracks, incredibly sudden appearance of myriads of caterpillars, eating up the herbage for miles in extent; the prevalence of a great variety of diseases amongst cattle and horses ; scarcity of fuel, high price of timber and destructive winds, all tend to render farming a precarious occupation, and to keep South Africa from what it would have been if the wholesale devastation of her forests had not taken place, and what she would have been if the first settlers had paid attention to the establishing of timber belts in all favourable places. Steps have been taken to replant the country ; botanical gardens are established in several parts for the purposes of plant distribution, and now one occasionally meets a clump of blue gums as far as twelve hundred miles in the interior.

Ohbis. Mudd, Duncan’s Nursery.