ACCLIMATISATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2527, 20 August 1902, Page 65

ACCLIMATISATION.

(Speaker )

The man in the street is apt to rc-^.ird expeiiment with foreign animals as a costly fad foiedoomed to sterility ; which, in view of the facts, is ataurd. All our dom?&tir breeds ime succeeded in tiie New \Vi>r'd and in Australasi.i The ruirwl i-. mo exippt'on. Some of oui wild tiling have none admirably 'Ihe lark, tho tlii-ii'-li ;.nd the pheasants have gone to "-tay Upon the riiy soil of the island continent iuijmited hares have nearly doubled the weight we aie übed to at home, and ha\e mcieased the uui ma! nunibei <»f the litter Spurious in the States and rabbit-s in the antipodes have done disastrously well, but in New Zt.i'and the lodeiit !•- rec^d'.n^ be'cie the <=toat« jmpoitt.'d in the hop/ of leslnmii: t-he balance of nature It i« in N< w Ztalaui that, peilups tlip uio'-t re -m .uui "-iiiuului success has h^eii scored- the .c i limai i-ed bumble bte lia^- already < lrsnL'f i tin 1-uiil

d' her i<d u }iUun fnirn an •intiu.il mijx.tti <if ie'l chnei setd to a lai^e ar.d nil rea.sing j jiiodiicw and exporter, tliu.s op 11111^ a | new and mcalciilab'e bouice of v. eaitli to the colony at an expense of w»mc- £2COO for I

the original bonus to the successful ictro" ducer of the insect.

We have tilled the trn'rte and neglected the garden, for so for as modern England is concerned aeeiimntisption is a science manque. It was not always thu'-. The merino was brought from Spain and the Great Horse from Flanders in th? Middle Age; later we obtained the barb-arab from the Levant and the T eeswater ox from Holstein. The guinea-pig wa« probably part of <he return freight of some Guinea man tiadiug black ivory between Cape Coast Castle and Bah?a. Pussy may have coma home with the la^t batch of crusaders, or later as the honsehold pet of some Aleppo merchant. If the quadrupeds make a snort list, the birds make one equally brief. The turkey and nmsk-duck are our only gains fiosh the Americas. The Guinea fowl is West African. Sundry breeds of domestic fowl reached us by way of Hamburg, Minorca, Cochin, Poland, and elsewhere. Lr..s Palnias sent us the canary. As to wild auimals. little has been done since the Romans brought over the pheasant, swan, aud fallow-deer. It is a hundred and thirty ye«rs since red-legged partridge were turned down in Suffolk with questionable wisdotn. The Capercailzie was re-introduced within living memory — a really fine achieveme&t. A useful little garne-brrd. the Patagoniiinl Trnanioo. barely holds its own against the Ea&t- Essex foxes. JReeves's pheasant would succeed with us but for a jealous disposition and objectionable habits which do not endear him to tportsmeu. Now the sportsman decides what species shall persist or perish in England to-day. This is not v creditable record for 20 eeuturies. Ireland has still less to show. The magpies introduced by the Cromwellian settlers have increased enormously, bnt the brown owls turned out a few years since are already uuder a ban, their hoot distresses the sensitive ear of the Irish peasant ; but the genius of the distressful country as not sufficiently constructive to warrant much in the way of experiment at present. If anything is to be tried it must be tried an Great Britain. Can anything be done? We think so. The following suggestions are at least intended to be practical : no counsel of perfection need be expected : no exhortation to put back the hands of the clock ; the twentieth century must respect the. Thing that Is or Capital giows alarmed and Labour sulky.

Let us discuss what sdditious to. the beauty and interest of our nativae fanua we compatible with existing institutions. To begin with quadrupeds. What can we do with the. uncultivable areas, large m s-oma parts of England, and still larger in Wales and Scotland? .The grouse must not be disturbed, but there are no grouse south of Derbyshire, and there are moors in the far rorth which no shooting tenant renls twice. It has been found possible during tha last 30 years, with the co-operation of the tenant farmers of Somerset and Devon, largely to extend the area over which the wild red deer of South-western England roams at wild. In the north during the same period mutton lias yielded to venison cwing to the competition of the southern wools : but, although the tale of stags annually accounted for is probably larger to-day than it was a century d|o. the weight of the animals and the beauty of the heads have dwindled and r>re still dwindling in most forests. This is due to ihe merciless pursuit by the shooting tenant of the finest animals, to inferior sires, and; habitual disproportion between the numbers of the sexes. In a Scottish forest each master stag, though but a 19st beast, and a. twelve-pointer at best, is followed by from 1 20 to 30 binds. The lordly hart royal of the Carpathians and Taurus, turning the scale at 40st and carrying a head but little inferior to a second-rate Wapiti; tliinks himself well wived if he can- secure the obedience of eight. The growth of antler depends upon stimulating vegetable food, acorn and chestnut and grass grown upon

imestone. We cannot reitora th« lost oak 'crests of the north, nor throw the walled imestone pastures back; into forest. The Introduction of park-bred! stags from the • kottth is a doubtful expedient; unless ; jacked by the rifle of » watchful gillie the I luge simple creature is driven from the Siextl by a wiry lit*]© jeight-pointer that fenpwß the ground. It is not fresh blood ' jbpt a new species that is needed. Wapiti jor Mw?tl should be tried in Ross-shire jEUftand Loch Maree, and in Devonshire and jfcne New iForest (where a moonlit vision of jtheir branching antlers would surely add jthe yallor of envy to the pale ghost of SRufus).