A SOUTHERN TOUR (Continued)

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 104, 3 May 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

A SOUTHERN TOUR (Continued)

TIMARO,

This towo is a pretty lifetlev place, and seems, by the character of the buildings, to be in $ very thrjving condition, bu fc, as we only stayed hers for twenty minutes, 5 1 did not see much of ib. After leaving Timaru •the hilj tjegan to recede from the railway UneVbhe soU beipg.here first-class, arid the crops taken off in some instances must have feeen vecy Jjeavy, as shown&by i ,t}*qr number of sfcooss all over the grain oelda* A- short distance from railway , leaves fch.9 seaside, and we enter a country: which haa farms on both -sides of op. Most of the settlers seemed to jje, well °ff» »? shown by comfortable homeefceadsr From this point onwards we ijavelied for about a hundred miles over an almost; pet: feebly-level couatry. Sonje soins'of good quality, and mucfi of ifr crop; but the bulk of the coaptry is of a pdory shingly nature, with very sparse vegetation.' -It ■ i«: only fit/ .for sheep grazing, Here and, 'there as we travel along the ■■ ;: line •- Wβ pass small plantations of forest toeee. J always thought when J looked, ait the comparatively, qartqw- strips <jfplaniktions that the trees would take a long tlrne-j before they would do much good, through the wind cutting through them," readers must recollect that this ia. a perV feebly level country, wibijan open seabpard of pqrhape more than 100 milee, so just fancy a gale of wind Sweeping acrpVf th.9 gouth PacificQcfian, and travelling ftcvoss | this large plaip. There aje no Tiatural J^iUs, ' or other qbstructiqns to Stay its'.prp-' greas ; [ it sfn?ply pwegp on Rtjid on W expends its Btret)2th on tliq-raaiß! ranges at t&6 l?ack of the plains, 3M?t fajigy a few narrow strips of p]apt©tioq plftnfcqd'wo'.apd there, none of them, near tOr ea<jh gtbe r SO R8;.,".,19 > alye. % The wind-will; simply howl throng}} theni, Choking all young growth flfld produoinp |r?9s, Jfii faof, thbujrh %t. only for a miuute. or so fcha.t I Qould look tit eacV etfip of, plantation as Berried past, I coj»l4 §e$ %]kf infipßct of a large number of the trees. To be able to KtQW gpQd a,nct W. 959 Iwge 9f ttTOßer, twee WJU require t# be planed, the outer planted Uyprqesus, MacroQarpa, Pinua Insignis, 6v some other quick-growing evergreen treesj that wUI retain their foli-

a.ge from $\s bofcteia to. tfce. tap, and make a" perfect wall on the outer .edges. Blue h [gums are very little use as shelter trees, as I they, in a few years, *get auies bare of branches ov foliage at the bottom, and in sitiatJQns ijke the Panterbu.r,y ?ja&& wguld J be very little use, unless deep protecting I belfea if Wβ planted. • l»arge pieces ci that enormous trap!? pjf B&ndy, district ! could carry good timber trees if systematic i plantingwereadepbed. Toplantsomeof tho*e 1 districts exlensively, there woald not only be the value of ttye future, timber and shelter,' but there would also be immense beneficial \| climatic changes, which would accrue if large plantations'of trees were made on this almost treel(j£& country, gome of the hills could with fjfreat advantage be planted. In one or two instances, aa W® sped along, I , i;j noticed that a considerable portion of the 1 reserve along bbaline of railway was planted with fereat trees. Th© bulk of W» r e only about from three to four |ieet iq and though they had not as yet qdm§mpch I under the influence of the cold, cutting winds, jt was apparent thai these winie ef- ,\ fepted them considerably, Theae i?fcrip© of ■§ plantation were principally c,p.mj)g§ej| of m asb, oak, larch and spruce. In a rew yfeira they should be beginning to rear -M tops a Uttle above the; level |& ground, and them, pgrhaM, the eftecbj 1 of what I have written above vrill. make itself more apparent. The railway author- i i'tiea at most of the river banks have : effected a very wise precaution, Imi»«iliately along the upper a,PP?°a ene * *>ke bridges, whieb cross the riveift on liose ■ plains, they have planted eaormoue quantities of the common weeping willow. ! Thes& willow* in time» by the thic'fe mat of | ! roots, will lap ?ver the «aad end sihingle. | i Not only that* but every flcwd which comes .i down will bring a quantity Of sand and' .jm eilt,' wh&h will accumulate: and- be. yetainod :► by the roots of the willows. Thia in time' :i will form a solid bank, which would make ,?l italmoat impoesible for any flood to break . q up and reach tbe approaches of the bridges; '" : --$m thus protected. Aβ we approached Christ- ;:M j qhurch the patches of good soil seemed to « j increasq and'the country be well covered I with homesteads, the owners of which |B I seemed to ba very comfortable. Ccmslder- <",WM able quantities of grain had beep grown on: iWjffl j Borne of the farma, and also other crops. i Many of the farmyards reminded me of tqe;i|aHj Old Country by the numorous stacks of HH : grain which had newly beea pub i up, but none oj them aa far as I I caw had as . yet been thatehed.'"j|!|S| lln one or two instancea tho threshing , ;, machines were in full qperation on the . : fields where the gram had been grown. } Here, in a large number of instances, ife was ";mm evident that no use was made of the etraw.-.i:M| It was just left in large heaps where ifc was threahedj and allowed to rot- In some fieldathe rotten debris of last year'a straw ;■ was still to be seen in good-sized heape. ■I:.,sam only hope that the dettrht of such is carfeeclii«| over the fields this year, aoi that a littje of; /mm what has been taken off will get returned '>$■ to the soil agajß. Ifc mn»t be very exhausting for the coil to be cropped ye»p after year and even the debria of Che; straw nob iJM returned. The very richest of eoile will in 3jfl&\ time get ruined in this way.- Aβ we'ap-?Jot| proacked Christchurph the holdings fiat • M smaller and villa houses and gardens b«- M\ came more plentiful. There were more »;| trees, etc. The spire of the OWislehwrcb Cathedral was a prpminent object f<|r some \'M miles before wo approached the, City of the '.M ■' "; 'v.. •. \ ■■■.-•■■.- :■■•; i :■■■ -^β