ARBORICULTURE. (From the North Otago Times, January 10)

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 134, 18 March 1873, Page 3

ARBORICULTURE. (From the North Otago Times, January 10 )

J'JF. question of, trse-euJlwe is one of prune importance to similarly situated to that of Waitaki. Of " prime importance" in three respects, viz., tin.- beautifying of our •cenery ; the proMcling of a supply of Io8.il! v-gwvwn timber, and last, aiul chiefly the improvement of tlw climate by the incswat* of rainfall. We have on several occasions, drawn public attention to the matter, and feel indebted to Mr Kuld for having, by Ins fetter published in •ur issue- of Friday last, again brought it forward ; convinced H wo are that there is no subject more deserving of consideration. In these days of practical utilitarianism the " pocket" argument is undoubtedly the most likely to c. rry weight, and upon that ground alone arborieultuie commend* iiaelf to the attention of practical men and capitalists ; but before proceeding to the " paying" aspect of the question, let us first point out tho present scarcity of native timber in tins district, and the consequently large area of barren hills and tame-looking plains, which 'by no means •upply the surroundings which those who are building up lunuea in.t lns their adopted country should rest contented with The aim of every colonist should be to make his lioin^tcad beautiful without, as Hellas beautiful within, and nothing is pleusantcr to the eye than bosky dells and wooded glens, and a wealth of bright) green foliage" around the home nest \\ c are budding homes— and homes should be bo mtiful and attractive in all their surroundings ; and he who adorns the landscape is doing as good sen ice as he who delves for gold or clothes the plain with fruitful gram. But v.c knowtli.it few are able to afford to indulge in an artist's We of the beautiful at the cost of their private evehequer, eiiJ hence the £ s d consideration naturalh comes up as that first demanding attention. Will arboriculture pay 9 will first bo asked— we believe it will both directly and mthrcctly. Directly, because there is n largo and increasing demand for timber, to supply which large importations are annually made-, subject to duty ; and the money now sent out of the colony for this product might and ought to be to a great extent, retained for expenditure, within it ,- and, indirectly, b 'cause the planting of forest trees has the effect of ameliorating the climate, by inducing an adequate supply of ram, and so conferring imtold. benefit upon the agriculturist. So well is this understood that in many countries tho planting of trees is made a matter of State administration, and that ■with the happiest results. In this district, ahno.t treeless as it is, we sutler year after year from excessive drought ; aud as year by year the lagooiw are drained, and the surfacewater carried off, less and less rainfall may be expected In the neighbourhood of Dunedin the rapid deuudatum of tho hills of the bush bj which they wore once thickly covered, lias a-lready hid a marked effect on the climate, and erelong replanting will force itself upon the people as an absolute necessity. In older countries the experience of recent decades lias resulted in vigorous steps being taken to remedy the tvils caused by the wholesale destruction of forest, and in many portions of this colony it has also become evidently necessary to take steps in the same direction. Indeed, it waa a blunder from the first that in. sell mg,onr lands certain areas were not reserved for planting with trees ; and Goiverninent might ha.ye undertaken the taik withi profijj to the public income. It is true that tho jear before last, and last year measures were passed for the encouragement of planting by private individuals, which were steps in the right direction ; but the .Administration might well go farther, and in various part 9 of the colony undertake planting as. a colonial public work. In France, of late years,, so great have been the evils experienced, bo mjut ions has been the climatic effect of the wholesale denudation of. forests, that in many departments plnntmg has been earned out by Government on a \ery extensive scale, and that with the' most beneficial results— the effect upon the amount of ramftill being most marked ; and if we are rightly informed, the same course hna been taken with like results in some of the Swiss Cantons. In Egypt {tho cradle of an ancient and venerable civilisation)) modern views and idea*, under the administration, of tho present enlightened and practical Khedive, hay& taken root, and similar operations are going on ; immense areas of land have been planted with treee, and the result has been., as elsewhere, vastly to improve the climate — the rainfall has increased, and what were once sandy wastes arc become fruitful fields. Circumstances such as these ar» sufficient to show that the question of arboriculture is one well-deserving of practical attention ; and the landowners of this district especially, with its singularly dry climate, and its scarcity of natne timber, would do well to profit b> tho experience gamed in. other countries by setting to work at once in the cultivation of forest tress.

Sri-Eitru-ors Pkojf^jov ot Futu — The- Kew York Twines of the tth of December gnc-t a bhoit notice of Pro-10->t.l)l* Tyiulall's first lecture at Washington ■ — " Professor l\ndall opened his fir^t course of lectures at Washington to-night, before- a crowded audience,, ci cry beat in Lincoln hall being occupied. Many distinguished personages were present including Secretaries Bothwell and Robeson ; Senators Smniier, P.ittervm, Ferry, Hitchcock, and others ; General Porter, many representatives, numerous members of ( ie Diplomatic Co) \s, nnd all the available force of the Signal j C'irps which could be spared from the night's observation, fchan which tx> higher compliment will be paid to Professor Tuidall anywhere The President's family was represented by his son and daughter, and he will himself attend these lctures on his return- Professor Henry presented Professor Tjndall to the audience* and the latter, in his opening remarks, alluded most happily to the official announce • iiuiit which he yesterday read in tho President's Messi^e, that no single matter remained to cloud the relations between Great Britain nnd the United States." A correspondent writes to iv that tho wordi used by Profes^r Tjndall were these :— " And assuredly though tried by unexpected private grief (his junior assistant had a few days before died of fever in Philadelphia) I have had no reason to repent of my visit. It has been to mo a succession of pleasure, and the greatest pleasure of all was contemporaneous with my arrival at Washington. Dare I, as a student withdrawn from the arena af politics— a cuhvator of that science which is of no country and no nationality — dare I, m passing, express to you the profound gratification with which I read this morning the words of the President of the United States that not a shadow now rests on the friendly relations of the Government of America and England, and the expression, of his sincere hope that these relations may remain, for ever unclouded as they are now ? I am not as the proprietors of this beautiful hall (the Young Men's Christian Association) well know, in an ordinary sense of tlie term, a praying man. But if prayer be the heart's sincere desire then I may cJuira to pray that the hopes and wiaiies of General Grant may receive ratification and fulfilment iv the coming time " The Reeve IMdoiaodaire dv Cluiuie gives a description of a new form of milk guage, which appears to be useful. It is the invention of M. Marchaud, improved by M. Nalleron, and is based on the supposition that the quality of all milk, whether pine or adulterated, maybedeteimined by asce- taming the proportion of butter contained mit The new milk guage is a glass tube closed at one end, and divided by hues on the glass into three parts the lowest mirkel milk, the second ether, and the uppei most aljoliol. It is used as follows -.-The milk to be tested is poured into the tube, so as to fill the portion marked iiuJk A drop or two of caustic soda is added to pi event co.u'ulation. Tne second portion of the tube is then filled with sulphuric ether, which has the property of dissovui" all fie buttery piinciplea of, the milk without affecting its other ingredients. The open end of the tube is closed with the finger, and the contents are well shaken. The tube is then filled up with ordinary proof spnit which precipitates the butter in clots or lumps. The tttbe is next plunged for a few seconds into water at a temperature of 101 ° Fahrenheit, and the height of the oily fdm which forms within the tube, read off upon a graduated Beale attached to the latter, gives the amount of butter in the milk. The tin case provided for carrying tho tube will serve as a water-bath for the purpose. The- proportion of fatty matter held in solution by the ether, after the addition of the proof spirit, has been found bv M. Marchaud to be a constant quantity, i c , 12 grammes G per cent, per litre of milk. The 2ero of the attached scale is therefore marked 120. Good milk shsxtld give n reading of 30 to 33 de* indicating tho presence- of 30 to 33 garmme* of butter to the litre of milk. Wo may accordingly reject as adulterated, either by the addition of water or the removal of cream, all milk which does nat give a reading guagc of 30 clog, in thorn W milk guage. o o » b The city clock at Dunedin fads to keep time correctly The failure is stated to be due to the fact that the hands of the clock are of tin, and that these, when there is a stiff breeze turn round on the dial as if they were intended to show the velocity of tho wind. The dock is also stated to have some thing the matter with its nuide. It is 90 gol . ged with wheels that there is not room for half of them to move The clock cost £100. When it wa, set up it eo"t £25 to make it go. It went so well that it made thirty hours m the twenty-four Then it cost £10 to reguktoM wl en n dook stopped, and nothing under £15 could get it to commence time operations again. Then the long hand nt to going round the dial once in every sixty Beconds, while the short hand would not more. The small sum of £1 10 3 cured tins little difficulty, when it was found that wrong wheels were m their wrong place,. The matter J, n9 been referred to a joint commute* of the City Corporation and the Pro t v ; a c ,ve iszi. A nurabcr rf •*»*• w "■*■ »^™i wa< the publisher and fnpnd of Mr Fcnimnrp P« ir Washington Irving, Mr Baiard Ta,lor ami Zi T*'"' •'' authors, and was himself the author off h^W Al " cricnn London) called " American C " " '£5, (writt^, 1 " " T1 L C ,Y^ SPr °«reiB!« rei8! tc'»" tK established PUW.HwBi-e, winch was m 1870^ d [o Mwsrs S,nbneraml Co, and merged v, tfcrtf*

The " Sistkr."— There is something luvely in the name of sister, and its utterance la.ely fnilsJo call up the warm affections of the gentle heart/ The thoughts that dntre round ,t aie all qu.et, beautifnl, » n ,i pure. Passion has no place with its associations The hopes and feais of love, trngnish life itself, hn«l no h omo there. The bride is the star, the talisman o f t l« h eartt the diamond above all price blight and b'-izuy in the noonday sun ; a swter, the rsis^Jiit dnustk *»^ ■*» ■** Dr o lS e T % ''?^ a , rC informetl tlmt Mr M'"'™* lms KJ f J ii a T' lor the p ||p p° se of fitu »q u p h ™ baths at the hot spring,, situated on the land he recenth purchased j should he be able lo procure the n ceS S nS^V CI ' CCt SUltflblc bUlldl "« 8 ou - the S^i i« o der that every convenience may be found for ladies desiri>g t0 *7 the sanitary effects, of the hot springs. Mr llals e, of lapuaeharuru Hotel, with the laudable project of increasi n g tue accommodation for visitors, has added considerably to his pi onuses, and now inva'ids, and holiday seekers may be certain of their finding their wants and comforts attended- fco in a manner hitherto unsurpassed in that district. We learn thnt two ladic3 proceeded by Cobbs coacli this morning for Taupo. The Clyde (N V ) Times publishes the following item which proves the badness of a preacher's boy :— lVeddy is a little boy of seven years' growth, the son of a minister, who, with his wife, had just arrived at a new field of labour. Hearing hi* mother say to his father that she had just been deceived by saying the parsonage was a three-story building, when in fact, it was only two, he said, "Ma?" "Well, Freddy." " Ma, isn't the kitchen one •"' " Yes." " Then the floor is two, and tho story that papa, told is three." An oldl toper, after indulging quite freely in his accustomed beverage, amused himself in teaming a mettlesome horse. The animal not fancying his familiarities, suddenh reared, and the disciple of Bacchus found himself sprawling in an adjacent mud-hole. Ga'henng himself up as composedly as his situation would allow, ho shouted to Ilia ion John, who was standing by : " John, did you scenic kick that Vie hosa ?" " Why, no dad ; the lioss kicked you." " ltcckon not, John ; one or t'other of us got badly hoisted. Ta'n't me, John, for I am here." " Mamma," said a precious little boy, who, against his will was made to rock the cradle of his 'baby brother, "if the doctor has any more babias to give awagr, don't you take 'em." The forgiveness of many people is conditional, like that of the sick negro, who said, "If I die*, f forgive dat darkey : but if I gets well, dat fella must take care."° "When was Eome built? " a ked a school committee man of tho first class in ancient history. "In the night," answered a bright little girl. "In t'^e night ! " exclaimed the astonished examiner. " Why, I thought that everybody knew that ' Rome wasn't built in a day. 1 " Wi Toko and Wi Parata complain bitterly that Mr Mc-Lean does not tell them anything, but seems to keep everything dank from them. They do not like it, and we should not wonder but what a personal government would be brought to an untimely end by the natives themselves.— IFangatuti Herald. Db. Bbiohx's Phosdiiodyxe.— Multitudes of people are hopelessly suffering from Debility, Nervous and Liver Complaints, Depression of Spirits', Delusions, Unfltness for Business or Study, Failure of Hearing Si-'ht, and Memory,. Lassitude, Want of Power, &c , who 3 e cases admit of permanent cuac by the- new remedy Phosphoduie (Oxonio Oxygen), which at once allays all irritation and excitement, imparts, new energy am* life to tho enfeebled constitution, and rapidly cures every stage of theso hitherto incurable akd distressing maladies. Sold by aIL Chemists and Storekeepers througout tho colonies, from whom pamphlets containing testumoniah may be obtained.—Caution : Be particular to ask for Dr. Bi-iglit's Phosphodyne, as imitations are abroad; awl 1 avoid* purchasing single bottle*, the genuine article being sold m cases only. — Am .