NATURE—AND MAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 29, 4 February 1935, Page 10

NATURE—AND MAN

ORDER OR MUDDLE? WHAT OF THE FUTURE? (Edited by Leo Fanning.) The trees know how to live. Each dying year Their russet beauty blazons ’ere the sweep Of winds tumultuous; and the branches sere Are harped 'to sleep. The trees know how to live. The thrust of Laughs off the guarding bud-scales, and the leap Of sap and youth resurged in wonder bring Verdure to keep. The trees know how to live, and flirt with birds, And coyly hide sweet nests, and bees that creep Thigh-deep in pollen, Sing. O trees, in words, Your secret deep. For trees know how to liv —An Ou. Yes, f< t.he trees know how to live” lif mankind will only allow 'them to i flourish in nature’s way. A typical blunder has drawn the following editorial complaint in the Matamata Record:— “Apparently through lack of proper co-ordination between Government departments, large portions of beautiful native bush flanking the road have been hacked about in an indiscriminate way and the natural charm defiled in a maner which should noit be tolerated in a community which had a proper regard for the beauties of life. Not only that, but ideal seeding beds for noxious weeds have been left and conditions created which cause grave danger from fire in this area.” The National Viewpoint. That incident is a reminder of the need of a far-seeding policy in regard to forests, from scenic and material viewpoints. This matter was the subject of a very good editorial article in the November issue of American Forests.

“Forestry plays an important part in the presemt recovery enterprises of the Government, which are designed to aid in building up a more stable and prosperous economic and social development of our rural communities, ” the writer remarked “worn out and marginal lands in many eases are to be stocked with forest growth. The forest is looked to as one of the essonitial featurs inth programmes of part-time farming, or subsistence homesteads, of control of soil erosion, of amelioration, and of conservation of wild life. In the work of planning for a better rural economics, the soil resources must be considered together. There will always be an initermingling of tilled land, orchard pasture, and forest, and changes from one of 'these uses to another, as conditions change from time to time.

Tfiis is the very essence of orderly use of lands. “Forestry is an applied science so intimately related to agriculture as to bo classed as one of its branches. Because both agriculture and forestry are concerned with t'iie production or crops from the soil, because the technique of the management of forests and other soil crops have the same underlying bases. Because the economic and social problems of each are so intimately interwoven, and bcause national planning must combine forestry with agriI culture for a successful system of land use, the one should be kept closely in touch with the other. ’ ’ Guard the Remnant. “Spur of Morning,” a successful novel written by a gifted New Zealander, Alan Mulgan, gives a clear and true view of this country as it was when Richard Serldon won his way to supreme power in politics. Of course, the writer also describes the natural beauty of this “Brighter Britain of the South” —a beauty which has been marred by man in many places since the period of Air. Mulgan’s story. Here is a very pleasant passage:—■ “Sylvia had never felt so happy as she did that morning when they left the flat and started to climb the road through the partly cleared bush. .It

was good to be alive, and she was very much alive. Vitality and joy flowed through her. She felt she could walk on and on lightly and exultantly. The moist, sweet scent of the bush was a new delight to her. and the laughter oi her friends, echoing in the silence of the cuttings as they climbed, made music, in her heart. Now and then they stopped at a turning to rest and enjoy the view—the farm lands rolling up to the suburbs of Eden, the city itself spread out on its many hills, the long shining streak of the harbour, and on the horizon 'the misty blue of the gulf’s islands, in the heart of the bush they drank from a little clear stream that trickled over a bank of dripping fern, and sat down for a few minuitos in a tunnel of lovely twilight. Great trees almost met overhead, and the edge o fthc bush, with i'ts dense growth of trunk and creeper, faced them like a wall. From the dark green depths of the gully below them came the tumble of water and the chiming notes of a bird. Beside 'them droned the song of summer. Here and there the great top of a forest tree in the valley burned with its fire of blossom. They salt in silence for some minutes as in the hush of a cathedral. ’ ’ The Playful Weka. When Andreas Reischek (author of

“Yesterdays in Maoriland”) was ii tlhe forest of Fiordland many years ago be was much amused by the impudence and playfulness of wekas which visited his camp. At Dusky Sound a hon came to his tent every morning and evening and whistled for biscuits. Another weka tried to steal a watch from a vest which had been left on the ground while the owner was chopping wood. “ Fortunately. ” wrote Reischek, “the watch was on a good stout strap, which got entangled in a branch. .<1 that the weka had all her trouble in vain, I watched ithe thief fo> r a long lime, tickled to death, and then hunted her away. “If they knew they were being followed, they showed incredible cunning. They would fool poor Caesar (a dog) for hours through the bush, disappearing firsit into' one hole, and then, whilst the dog dug busily to get at them, out they would Meal by another. If Caesar set out in pursuit, away they darted in a zigzag run, round and round the tree-trunks, like a game of hide-and-seek.”