FORESTRY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1593, 26 January 1884, Page 4

FORESTRY.

Instruction in forestry was the subject of a speech by Sir Richard Temple at the meeting of the Social Science Congress at Huddersfield last week, who reviewed the present, state of forestry in various parts of England, with special reference to the application of the knowledge of India, In no country was Forestry so littlo thought of as in England, because, in the first place wo had a superabundance of rain; in the second, this rainfall and tho prevalent vegetation which it caused preserved from destruction, the rich humus with which our land is covered; and lastly because the Gulf Stream moderated our climate, Scotland was richer in forests than this country, having about 1,000,000 acres or one-twentieth of its total acreage under forestry, Nevertheless despite the efforts of Scotch and public-spirited men generally, the million of acres was being slowly reduced. When he was at the meeting of the Scotch Agricultural Society at Edinburgh two years ngo it was stated that only about three-quarters of a million of acres of forests remained. Sir Richard Temple gave the results of his observations during his recent travels, In the south of Norway and throughout Sweden the forests were preserved in the most patriotic manner for the augmentatation of the national wealth. In Geimany and Western Francs also, forests formed a profitable part of the national materialpossessions. In Southern France, Italy and Spain, however, tourists could not fail to noto tho reckless destruction of forests which had taken place. If a forest was destroyed, twenty other things disappeared with it; but the most disastrous effect was that destruction of forests entailed long periods of drought, followed by those excessive inundations which had of late been so common in certain parts of Europe. In Russia too, reckless and unscientific felling of forest trees was very frequent, Russia was naturally a country of pine forests, but these latter have been largely replaced by birch. The meaning of that was that when pine forests were felled without proper provision being made for the reproduction of the pine 3 the birch trees grew up in their stead, The beautiful countries on both sides of the Bosphorus, onco the home of the greatest nations and the scenes of the greatest events in history, wero now but the shadows of their former selves, solely on account of reckless destruction of their forests. The once famous harbor of the Euphrates had silted up because oi the destruction of the forests near the source of the river which flowed into the sea at that point. The sylvan glories of Cypres, too, the latest region which had passed under British sway, had entirely departed.

After alluding to the aridity and sterility, which had been brought about in Palestine and Persia, by the destruction of their ancient forests, Sir Richard, Temple passed on to British India, where, he said, the English nation possessed a forest department greater than that of any other people in the .World, Although the forest department was far short of what it should be, it was among the administrative glories of England, There were 75,000 square miles of forests there, of which 25,000 woro under scientific care, and tho remaining SO,OOO were under tolerable caro and preservation. Sir Richard Temple showed that otherwise forestry was not cultivated, other countries having already lost their timber, and others having been blessed with such a store that it still remained in great quantities, but was slowly but surely dimi nishing. In North America and Canada the forests were being greatly diminished; but the most melancholy case was that of the West Indies, for there the destruction of forests meant not only tho loss of a source of material wealth, but also permanent injury to the climate and the fertility of the soil. This destructive process had not hitherto been visible in Australia, because the forests thero nro so for inland that destructive agencies could not reach them. But if ever a reckless destruction of Australian forests should commence it would be fraught with the greatest danger to tho community. The great problem of the future for Australia was tho water supply in the centre of tho island, and that problem could only be met by carefully preserving the forests near the sources of the scanty Australian rivers,

For the practice of forestry there were three chief reasons—first, the extension of the national wealth \ second, the retention ol moisture in the soil j and third, the moderation of the climate Sir Richard looked upon the judicious use of forests as analogous to the employment of interest and capital, the same principals applying to both; and he also observed that, if forests which had disappeared could not be .replaced, by properly conducted aboriculture many ne,w trees could be naturalized or acclimatised in a country. Adequate provision for tho instruction of forestry was wanted, for the greatreason that forestry was nearly connected with national progress, and such instruction was divisible as follows:—method of preparing the land for forests, the art of preparing the land for forests, the art of planting, the art of thinning and pruning, the utilization of limbs and branches, felling, barking, leaving standards for reproduction (in which was comprised the most important of all the operations) gathering pollards, sawing and manii' factoring, and rearing and propagating in nurseries,

At the close of a brief discussion, which took a very general tone, Sir Kichard Temple said it had not been hit object to add another subject to the curriculum of elementrry schools, but to advocate the preservation of forests at home and abroad, and the establishment of forestry schools to disseminate the practice of forestry both, at' home and abroad, this country having a world-wide interest in the development of the timber supply. Besides, each country had its self-interest in the preservation of forests for climatic reasons, and for the maintenance of its national proaperity.—Agricultural Gazette.