BAMBOO FORESTS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 599, 2 August 1933, Page 7

BAMBOO FORESTS

SUITABLE FOR PULP TRiOPICAL YEGETATION MAY PROYE YALUABLE SOURCE. SATISFACTORY TESTS. | (p-'zz.T&r $ Bamhoo forests of the tropies may hold. the ultimate solution of the pulp nianufacturer's prohlem of future supply according to Mr. M. P. Bhargava, of the Imperial Forest Research Insti- . tute, Indfa, who .spoke before the Pacific Science Congress at Vancouver recently. Mr. Bhargava said that bamhoo had been thoroughly tested in Indian labo_ ratories and had been found/ suitahle for pulp and cellulose requirements if the coniferous forests were threatened with extinction within 40 or 50 years, as some authorities contended. The pulp industry could depend on the bamhoo forests, said jfr. Bhar- J | gava. Not only was there an inexhaustible supply of bamhoo hut the present g crop could he reproduced in much less | time than is required to grow a coni- I ferous forest. ■ | Alien Plan. 1 Consideration was given to the advisability of introducing plants and animals of one part of the world into another. Most speakers were of the opinion that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages. Government regulation of ■such movements was urged by one delegate. Men are largely dependent for food | ' and clothing on eertain plants and ani- j j mals which have become domesticated j during the process of civilisation, pointed out Dr. R. M. Anderson of the National Museum, 'Ottawa. "In order to retail this type of culture it is ne- , cessary for these plants and animals to accompany man on his migrations." Dr. Gampbell gave a striking example of the eifect of introducing new plant life. "The Ilawaiian Islands," he said, "have an extremely specialis. ed native vegetation. Some alien plants were introduced hy the first Polynesian immigrants and many mo're by the white colonists, some of , which have become completely naturalised. The native vegetation has been greatly reduced as the result of cultivation and the ravages of cattle and goats. Destruction of Species. In addition to the classic example of the rabbits in Australia, Mr. E. Cheel, Government botanist of Sydney, described the introduction of new plant life in the suh-continent. Much destruction of native species of flora is and has been taking place, he stated, because eertain species are commer- j cially valuable but more extensively j because their habitat is wanted for , cultivation. ' California's experienee with alien ! animal life has not' been happy, all things considered, said Dr. Tracy I. Storer, of the University of California's College of Agriculture. 1 Dr. H. U. Sverdup, of Bergen, Nor- J wegian oceanographer, told the co»- ; gress that a clearly defined "river of | the sea" extends across the Pacific Ocean. In the Atlantic, he said, there are four current systems ahove each' other; the warm water circulation in \ the upper layers; the current of low , salinity in the intermediate layers; the relatively warm and saline deep cur- ! rents and the cold hottom currents | carrying water of Arctic and Antarc- j tic origin toward the equator. A layer of minimum salinity is found all over the Pacific Ocean, for : which reason no direct communication hetween the upper layers and the deep I water existed, Dr. Sverdup said. In the upper layers a counter-clockwise circulation was found in the south Pacific. The two currents were separated, he said, hy what he described as a narrow equatorial counter-cur- | rent, which runs with great velocity | toward the west, like "a river in the j sea" across the entire Pacific.