Valleys of Lost Hope.

Forest and Bird, Issue 34, 1 October 1934, Page 14

Valleys of Lost Hope.

Nature’s Revenge for Man’s Folly.

Here is a story of “The Valley of Lost Hope,” in the Mississippi region, told by B. W. Jones in the July issue of “American Forests” —just the kind of story that can be told of some valleys of lost hope in New Zealand—the story of Nature’s revenge for man’s folly in going against her insurance policy of forests for the protection of top soils. More than a century ago, a settler, Tom Hamer, took up some wooded land in hilly country of the Mississippi. He hoped to establish a prosperous farm, which would be a permanent home for his descendants. Affairs went well enough for some years, until Nature began to inflict punishment for mistakes. In little more than half a century the Hamer estate became a “Valley of Lost Hope.” “Much of the timber had been cut from the land,” the chronicle runs, “and through the annual application of fire to the woods the natural covering of the soil had been either partially or wholly destroyed. The rams came, and soon small washes began to appear about the farm, growing larger and larger each passing year through the action of water and frost. This process gradually destroyed outright a large

part of the valuable farm land, and cut the remainder up into small irregular plats, rendering it unfit or unprofitable to till. Not only were the fields on the upland ruined through erosion, but the rich bottom lands were covered with deposits of sand washed from the gumes above.” Other “Lost Hopes” of the Mississippi district are mentioned in an official report. “The extent of the eroded area and the advanced stage of gullying makes the undertaking a stupendous one,” it is stated. “It is difficult to describe the ruin that has been wrought or to estimate the losses that have been incurred in this once productive and prosperous farming region. Unhindered soil erosion, proceeding at a rapid rate for many years, has already laid waste 4,000,000 acres of former fertile uplands, and threatens to drive impoverished farmers from depleted lands. The eroded soils are furthermore the source of destructive spring floods.” That statement applies truly to various parts of New Zealand, where much of the national estate has already been lost, and more is being scoured away.