OUR RESOURCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1843, 18 March 1887, Page 11

OUR RESOURCES.

SUB-TROPICAL NEW ZEALAND. Wbitten tok the Witness by Q-. E. Ai,derton (Late N Z. Government Commissioner re Fruit Culture).'. Chats with Fabmebs. — Insect Pests. — Want op Legislation —Bosh Fires.— -This FoEESTKY DiIPAIITMENT. — THE SCHOOL OF FORESTEY isND AGIUCVtTUKEU Daring the past week I have been running through a number of orchards in the Mangapai district, where there are numbers of large orchards successfully managed. Tha district is quite freefrora insect pests, and in this respect has a very great advantage over the country In and about and near to the city of Auckland, where the codlin moth, the cottony scale (Icerya purchasi), and various other insects have almost completely ruined many orchards. The amount o? damage done there is inoaloulablo, and the woret feature is thofc it not only causes growers great losses, bufc leads people to believe that tbeie pests cannot* be combated, and ihe idea of planting orchards is scouted as wor&e than useless. Ail the insect pests kuown to this country — and more too — baras-i the fruit growers of California, but every grower has a knowledge of the different insects and the remedies for them, the law provides for their suppression, and the greatest vigilance is exercised to minimise the evil, just in the same way as we in New Zealand had to fight the scab in sheep. Here the Government, so far, have done nothing towards dealing with the subject in a practical manner, though a Department of Agriculture and State Forestry has been established at very great cost — the appropriation for this new department being last session no less a sum than £16,000. One of the chief objects of the new department was the protection of our valuable kauri and other forests from fire, but though Professor Kirk was appointed at a salary of £b"00 a year to take measures to guard against this aunual loss, no perceptible difference was apparent this year. Professor Kirk, I believe, appointed forest rangers iv every district, butnotwithsitandiug this the whole country was again on fire thin summer. In one district alone Mr Monk, the new member for Waiteraata, and a greas expert on the timber question, estimates that £10,000 worth of timber was destroyed. Tne Native Minister has conceived the idea that these fires are caused by gumdiggers, who prowl about the country and set fire to the fern to clear the laud so that they cau dig for gum. No doubt many fires are caused iv this way, but there aro quite as many bush fires in districts where there are no gumdiggers ; and as showing how fires may occur, an old bushman assured me yesterday that ho had seen a swinging vine ruboing against a tree, and the friction had caused the tree to fire. Anyone used to the bush will admit the feasibility of fires occurring in this way, for trees may bo found everywhere with portions of their trunks chated quice smooth and polished like ivory by cross brahches or viuca continually rubbing up against them. Iv the dry summer weather it & not to be wondered at if this friction causes the wood to burn. Under such circumstances it appears quostiouable whether tho Forest, department is likely to accomplish any good, and most practical men seem to think that beyond the creation of a number of fat sinecures no other benefit is likely to accrue to the districts affected. During next session the matter is sure to be thoroughly ventilated by Mr Mouk, who, as I stated before, is quite an expert on the subject, and is also the mouthpiece of the timber companies, who naturally take the greatest iuterest in any I proposal having for its object the protection of ! forests frbm fire. What Mr Monk's ideas are I urn not quite sure, but anyhow he seems to , think that what Mr Kirk is doing is of no prac- j tical use. Mr Kirk was also empowered under his new appointment to devise means for grappling with ! the insect pests affecting orchards, but so far nothing has been done beyond the publication by him of a number of remedies for these pests, together with his views concerning some of the i diseases which have proved troublesome to orcbardists, such as the peach blight, &c. This paper called forth a considerable amount of hostile criticism in the Auckland press from oivhardists, both in regard to the impraotica- j biliby of his proposals and the fallacy of the sur- | miseß advanced by him as to tho origin aud I proper treatment for some of the diseases. For j instance, he ascribed the peach blight to the j fact of the tree not being worked on a proper i stock, and asserted that by working the peach j on the mussel plum the blight would disappear. The fallacy of this contention is shown by the fact that iv England, where the peach is gene* rally worked on tho mussel plum, the blight is worse than in New Zealand, That the, stock ! upon which a tree is ,worked has a very impor- | taut bearing upoj| : it6 future health is a well- \ established fact, Dut it has also been* demon- j strated iv California that the same stock is not equally suitable to all sdils. For instance, a stock Buitable to a light sandy soil is as a rule just as unsuitable for a heavy clay, and 'Consequently tho same kind of fruit requires to be worked ou different kinds of stocks for different soils. The feeling of the fruit growers throughout the Northern district is that if the Government propose setting up a department to disseminate information with a view to guid»ig and assisting them, that information should emanate from a practically - trained man, so that amateurs would nob be misled or mib to the expense of experimenting with theories. The growers hold that it would be far bettor for new beginners to search for the information amongst the old growers than have to rely on questionable information furnished from Wellington, and that if Government is determined to start the department, then the best class of men should be obtained from the Uuited states to teach not only practical fruit farming, but the canning, evaporating, and generally tbe preserving and packing of fruit. Obviously the placing of this department under the direction of a man who has no practical knowledge whatever of the subject-for Mr Kirk freely admits that he has no practical knowledge of the subject-is likely to do more hirm than good As a botani-t Mr Kirk has the reputation of being, so far as New Zealand tMtany w epnrarnefl, very proficient, b,ut beyond that he claims to have uo particular fitness f6r the pmtcioii of a director of a department of p imology. r In connection with the State Forestry department a School of Forestry and Agriculture was to be established at Whangaroi. The act designated the School as one of " Forestry and Agriculture," though tho intention of the promoters was that it should be one of "Forestry and Pomology," and it will bea"pityif theoripai intention 13 not carried out, for, so far as

this part of the colony is concerned, a School of Agriculture would be quite useless. Scientific farming, can only be followed in districts where the farms are in the highest state of cultivation. Here " bush farming " is most general, and it will be many years before anything in the shape of scientific farming can be undertaken, and the splendid establishment) at Lincoln, Canterbury^* ought to be sufficient for this colony for a generation to come. In England there are only two agricultural colleges, and even there they have not been very sue- 1 cessf ul so far as attendance is concerned, though they have done farming much good indirectly. In America, too, the colleges of agriculture have never been well attended, though every inducement was offered and every effort made to make them popular. Quite recently the professors of these colleges held a conference in New York to consider what steps, if any, could be taken to popularise the colleges and get better attendances. Scientific farming is not popular, and agricultural colleges are one of the greatest luxuries a country can have. A School of Agriculture is certainly not wanted hero, but a School of Pomology, under an efficient and practical director, would be a great benefit to the country, and if conducted on popular lines, as in America, would be self-sup-porting in a few years' time. The School of Forestry and Agriculture at Whangarei has a reserve of something over 3000 acres. The land is of the poorest description, very broken, and almost useless for any purpose. Mr Kirk was warned that the land was useless, but he persisted in going to work on it, and has had ploughed up some 500 acres. What his intentions are no one knows. It is said he proposes to put the land down to grass, and let the grazing to raise a revenue, but farmers acquainted with the land tell me that it will not grow a blade of grass without a tremendous quantity of bonedusb. Does it not seem very absurd creating departments in thia way, and placing them under the direction of men with no practical knowledge ? Both the Hon. Sir Robert Stout and the Hon. Mr Ballance were, I believe, warm advocates of this School, but I cannot think that their ideas are being carried out. Ministers no doubt have so much to engago their minds that many matters of this kind get altogether beyond their view, and heuce it is the more necessary that they should in the first place sco, before relegating their powers to someone else, that the direction of affairs is placed in capable hands. The importance of this matter id very great, and as the new department is costing such a large sum of money, it is only right that the matter should be ventilated, and Southern members made aware of what is going on.