BURNING THE COUNTRY.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 743, 22 March 1877, Page 3

BURNING THE COUNTRY.

Sin,—Complaints are occasionally heard from farmers and others -about the fein, being set/on fire, and which they •would have us understand impoverishes the sbil,' as well as helping;weeds,:&c, to spread. This, in the. majority .of cases, is a great mistake. Take the Waikato,'for instance, why, will | .it : nott comp ire with' the .same extent of, country'in the ? t Because it isjcbvered'with ‘fern and ti-tree, which affords little or no feed for any kind of stock, the best land as a rule haying; the) most fern. Speaking from experienpe, I, can say, that, were fern and scrub systematically, bu nt off on all sides, and cattle and sheep run oyer it, iA a couple of years, the. whole of waste land ; would carry a sheep to the acre- : - Would - this hot be belter than as we seevit/at present—mile after mile of fern land, with riot’a living thing riiiori it? The feed .that.springs 1 '- up ! after burning is daride-i lion, a native ' grass; riot' unlike the Southern snow -grass, 'iarid thistle; but if we .did;, as y they-do J the South—sow grass, after burning—the result would, of icourse,'!be much l bettAr l( ' 't'here would be a double’gain, for not ! drily - would the land send forth; feed’for cattle, bat would be itself vastly improved/ for ; "iio one will say that a rank growth of, ,fern improves landi like' pasturing' with ' sheep or any kind of- stock. The dbjectioris may - be. briefly stated, settlers having land 1 to plough prefer rank fern, as L it will burn, and save much clearing, arid others again there are who detest thistles,.;dandehpn, &c, and; for thisreasdn they will allow the fetri tb grow for miles round their homesteads.;' It is a* question; however, that should be looked at broadly/ "' 1 Take the Waikato as it is, arid what it riaigbt be. In some parts of it, where' settlers are : numerous, and cultivation extending rapidly, •; of. coarse nothirig 1 cari. improve upon that.; but what.yast tracts there are, arid will be for,,years, of unoccupied land, some of it perhaps not firstclass, but quite good enouih for cattle and sheep runs. Travel front Rarigiriri to Alexandra, is even a hundredth part of the land occupied ? There are some people who .regard the sheep as-the enemy of settlement, but in the South what were sheep runs formerly are now in the bands of settlers, and the land has been so improved that settlers going upon it can clear their wbole liabilities with one grain crop. have nothing to say against the burning and stocking of. waste land.— I am, &o, A SextliEß. ; " Waipa.' ' '