THE CLIMATE AND VEGETATION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

West Coast Times, Issue 102, 15 January 1866, Page 3

THE CLIMATE AND VEGETATION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

(From tho S. A. Register, Dec. 12.)

Of all the natural mysteries amid which wo livo and love, tho changes of tho atmosphere have ever been tho most inscrutable, and at the same time most familiar. In those our ancestors from tho Pelagians downward have recognised the most direct and overawing manifestations of the superhuman. Their untutored intellects bowed themselves lowest before tho tempest and tho thunderstorm,. Their homage was most devout and constant to those gods to whom they looked for the fertilising rain and the pleasant sunshine each in its prosper season. We have discarded tho reverent ignorance of our forofathers, and what have we got in its stead ? Let Mauiy and Saxby and tho shado of Admiral Fitzroy nnswejv Their ocular deliverances Imy 6 teen jwfeW fluying tho p^t few

years. We have read them attentively in the newspapers and have left them there. Meteorology has been for practical purposes a mere toy to us. Neither on sea nor on land have wo availed our- , selves of a tithe of tho information it has or might have furnished to us. In new country, where the oldest of us -<jau yel distinctly remember the day when he first touched its shores wo give even less attention to the'vital subject of climatology than is dona in England or America. An clabora'o system of observation and reports is carried on, and the public generully can boast of a Ya»ue theoretic knowledge of the results, but no application of them worthy of tho name has been attempted. . We keep our meteorological knowledgo in Blue Books, and our Boil, our vegetation, our climate, all of which imperatively demand to bo brought under its operation, wait for it , in vain. From the first, it has been seen that we had a very different country from England to dcnl with, and would need to adopt a differont kind of agriculture. As yet wo have no distinctivo agriculture at all, — only a dismal succession of insults to the soil in tho spring, and violent robberies committed upon it in harvest. Wo admit tho scantiness of the rainfall, and tho great waste which takes placo in our short supply of moisture: Then wo turn round, scratch our heads, and talk of irrigation and a hundred other scheme?, apparently but to drown tho voico of conscience. This continual chattering about great things to bo done at some future time has hindered us from doing the small things already within our power. Private landowners, in waiting for the Government to help them on a grand scale, have missed many golden opportunities of helping themselves. In collecting and digesting scientific knowledge, we have overlooked the more handy maxims of teveryday lifo which ( nro practised elsewhere. It is a serious question' if, amid all our schemes for improving the country, we are not allowing it in some respects to get worse. In mosc of the colonies the soil has been recklessly stripped of timber, and exposed to the sun till it has become mero dry dust unfty to retain either heat or moisture. The heat, escaping for want' of vegetation torelain and utilise it, becomes as powerful for evil as it might have boon for good. It disperses tho clouds before they arc ready to discharge their liquid burden. It inflames tho atmosphere, and aggravates tho scorching, blasting influence of hot winds. Wcro the intention of Nature respected, the very reverse of all this would take place: Trees selected for the purpose would protect the minor vegetation — shrubs and grasses — which in their turn would protect the soil, supplying it with necessary warmth and moisture. The soil thus encouraged would give forth its strength freely for the nourishment of its protectors. The landowner who cultivated in this ra.tional way would reap benefit on every hand — first in augmented crops, next in a good supply of useful timber, thon in a in,ore equable temperature, and, v las't of all, in the pleasing consciousness* that he was doing his duty by tho gifts Providence had conferred upon him. As regards the destruction. of native timber* there is a good deal to be said in extenuation of the course pursued inthiscqlony, Our gum-trees are worso than useless for tho purpose described, above, as .it is their peculiar characteristic to destroy underlying- vegetation rather than to encourage it. Their roots, spreading out quite close to the surl'aco of tho earth, absorb all tho availablo'moisture, and it is next to impossible for anything to grow beneath them. Henco their removal became a matter of necessity rather than pf waste. Moreover, most of tho clearances which have so changed the aspect of the country have been mado for bona fido agricultural purposes. The lesser good had to give place to a greater. Still it would have been better had an efficient and timely substitute for ' that lesser good been found. The farmers, for every gumtree they cut down in tho middle of their sc-ctions, might have planted a more valuable true in another part, either in clumps or the poorer patches of soil, or, as practical agriculturist onco suggested m tho " Farm and Garden," iv rows along tho northern boundaries of the sections. Plantations on a more extensive scale might have been formed on tl. ose hill sides which, from some inexplicable cause, Nature has neglected. Undertaking such a work, with a definite object in view, any given result might have boon guaranteed by simply selecting suitable kinds of trees. It is generally agreed that what -would bo wanted is a maximum of shado with a minimum' of moisturo-absorbing-powor, a thick foliage that will attract rain, t and n deep-boring root which can find nourishment for itself without 'monopolising that near the surface, which properly belongs to the minor vegetation. In Victoria there has been more inexcusablo wastefulness displayed than among ourselves. Each' township has literally burnt a hole in the country for its accommodation. Every digger's camp has been a centre of havoc. It is almost inconceivable tho quantity of timber diggers can mako away with when it comes handy to them. When they build a hut they need bark to roof it with, so they strip tho neighbouring ti'ees of tho best pieces without tho least regard for economy or consequences. Thon thoy* rcquiro fuel, and. this too they supply .themselves with on tho principle of tho first conic the best served. In the larger • mines there aro engine-furnaces to bo kept going, which consume wood by wholosale. Thero are alt o under-ground operations in which timber plays an important part. These causes combined hastened tho process of denudation nt sucli an alarming rate that the Government wore forced to give their attention to it. A committee of investigation was ap pointed, consisting of the SurveyorGeneral the Assistant Commissioner of Lands, and tho Secretary of Mines. In thoii* report, recently given in, they recommended Uiftt veryßtviot wjjuta*

tions bo applied to the cutting and general use ol' native timber ; that new plantations be formed in different parts of tho colony, each locality to have the species of frees best adapted to its soil ; that all forests, both native and artificial, bo vested in trustees,- who act under tho control of the Board of Land and Works.

Dr. Mueller, who lias done for arboriculture iv Victoria what his countryman Dr. Mueclce has done for agriculture hero, advocates a much more extensive scheme than the above. He, contends that thoro Avould bo no great difficulty in disseminating J;rees in the arid parts of the interior, Suitable seeds might be collected in tons at very small expense ; and if scattered in large quantities at the commencement of the cool season, cattle being kept away from them for a time, copses would soon grow up which it would bo almost impossible to annihilate. The seeds ho specially recommends are those of the so-called Capo Avattlo (Acacia lophantha), tho ordinary wattletroo of Victoria (Acacia mallissima), and Eucalypti of quick growth. Some months ago our Philosophical ' Society stumbled on this subject accidentally, and rather startled tho public by their revelations. Why did they not follow it up soriously and practically ?

Curran used to rclato, facetiously enough, an attack which he onie made upon tho siinplioity and laughter-loving disposition of his friend tho Chief Baron, Lord Avonmoro, who) with all his other qualifications, piqued himself, and very justly, on his profound classical acquisitions. Cunan was one day addressing n jury of Dublin shopkeepers, so stupid and so illiterate, that the finest flights of his eloquence were lost on them. 1 1 reme'mbor, gonticmen,' said he, stealing a side glance at the unconsoious and attentive Lord Avonmoro, — ' I romomber tho ridicule with which my learned friend has been pleased bo unworthily to visit iho poverty of my client 5 and remembering it, neither of us caiv forgot the iino scniiment of a great Greek historian upon tho subject, which I shall take llio liberty of quoting in the original, as no doubt it must bo most familiar to all of you . It is to be found in the celebrated work of Hosiod called the Phantasmagoria. After expatiating upon tlio sad effects of poverty, you may remom bor he pathotioally remarks : 1 Nil lmbot infelix pauper tas durius il so Q'lam quod ridiculos homines faoit 1 ' Lord Avonmoro bristled up tit once, "Why, Mr Curran, Ilesiod was not an historian — ho Vas a poet ; and for my part, I nevor heard before of any suoh poem as the PltdiiUtviuigoria.' 'Oh ! my good lord, I assure yoifhe wrote it.' ' Well, woll, it may.bd bo— l'll not dispute it, as you >eoni to bo so very serious about it; bub ut till events the lines you quoted aro Latin— they aro undoubtedly Juvenal's.' ' Perhaps, my lord, he quotes them from the Phantasmagoria ' 'Tut, tut, man; I tell you thoy' re Latin— they aro just ns tamiliar to mo as my Dlaekstono.' ' Indeed, my good loijl, tho'ro Greek. 1 ' Why, Sir. ourn\n, do you want to prosuade me out of my senses I I tell you they'ro Latin— can it be possible that your memory so fails you?' ' Well, my lord, I sco plainly enough; wo can never tigreo upon the subject ; but I toll you how it can bo easily determined. 'If it was a legal question, of course I .should bo^ at onco to tho decision of your lordship • but it is no' — it's a inoro mutter of fyct, and there's only one way that I know of deciding it : send it up as a collateral issue to tho jury, mid I'll bo bound they'll — ; find It Greek !' Tho joke flashed upon tho simplicity of Lord Avonmoro ; and Curran extended (as ho sutd) his immense hand ovor the cheek that was next to tho jury box, by way of shutting them entirely out from the secret, Loid Ehvikiue, goin* circuit on ono occasion, was asked by tho landlord of (he home where he lodged, how he had slept ? Ho replied, " ' Union is strength,' a fact of which somo of your inmates seem to bo unaware, for had they neon unanimous last night thoy might have pushed mo out of bed ! " " Fleas ! " exclaimed boniftlce, affecting great astonishment, " I wan not aware that I had a single ono in tho house ." "I don't beliovo you have," retorted his guest ; " they are all married, and have uncommonly largo families."

One night Eiskino was hastening' out of the House of Cnmmoiui, when lie wns utopped hy n member going in, who accosted him, ''Who's lip, Eiskine V v " Windhnm," w.is the reply. " What's ho on ?" "Logs," answered the wit.