'"SARTAGE" IN FINLAND. 16? 



From what I know of the functions discharged by forests 

 in the terrestrial economy, and from what I know of the 

 history of many, I consider it extremely probable that, 

 as a mantle covering extensive regions of the earth, forests 

 are but a temporary provision for existing temporary 



steadily advancing eastwards, threatening to conquer for itself all the grassy hills and 

 dales and extensive vales of the Eastern Province and British Kaffraria, being borne 

 onward, I presume, by the winds prevailing at the season of its maturity. 



' Were the ground covered with verdure we should have little to fear ; but of this it 

 is often for a length of time devoid, in consequence of long-continued drought. In some 

 districts the ravages of the locust occasionally remove what would have protected the 

 soil ; and in the same or other districts, by the short-sighted policy of burning the veldt, 

 the ground has been specially prepared for the seed thus borne on the wings of the wind. 



' To every practical man desirous of checking the spread of the rhenoster bosch, I 

 would say : Stop, if you can, the desiccation or drying-up of the climate by the burning 

 of the veldt ; do what you can to restore the humidity of former days, by the erection 

 of dams and the planting of trees ; and keep all arable land under constant cultivation ; 

 and that for the following reason : There is going on everywhere what Darwin has 

 described as the struggle for life. Something similar may be seen going on in different 

 districts of the colony, and the extensive diffusion of the rhenoster bosch is one result 

 of this. 



' The drought and the burning of the bush, besides preparing the soil for the recep- 

 tion of the seed, have removed many plants which formerly occupied the soil, and the 

 invader has made an easy conquest of the land. The aridity of the soil gives to this 

 invader a great advantage over the down-trodden descendants of the previous occu- 

 pants ; but by cultivation you help for a time a plant less adapted to the soil than the 

 invader, and thus that plant is allowed to arrive at maturity. 



1 The culture necessary for the perfecting of this crop, and the partial eradication of 

 the invader, may allow the descendants of former occupants to regain something like 

 their former luxuriance, and the culture may render the soil for a time somewhat less 

 favourable to the growth of the bush ; but drop the culture, and you may find, as t 

 have witnessed, the bush again invading .the land within less than twelve months after 

 the reaping of the crop ; and therefore it is that I advise constant cultivation. 



' I have said nothing on the question whether the spread of the rhinoster bosch is a 

 blessing or a curse. I have only taken up the problem which you gave me. The whole 

 plant is bitter and resinous, and the tops of the branches are not only given in powder 

 to children affected with diarrhoea, and, infused in wine and brandy, to be used as a 

 tonic in dyspepsia and other complaints, but I have been told they are eaten by sheep 

 and by cattle. Still I consider the spread of the bush an evil. I question whether the 

 bush and the plants associated with it supply food for flocks and herds equal to the 

 grasses and herbs associated with them. In every case I consider the pastoral an 

 inferior state of society to the agricultural, and whatever retards agriculture I consider 

 an evil. One of the natural consequences of the physical, intellectual, and moral eleva- 

 tion of a people is, that the wilderness they inhabit shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. 



' The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth has He given to the 

 children of men. But He has given it to them to be used. Fie has done with this as 

 with every other gift, wealth and strength, physical, intellectual, and spiritual : Use it 

 and it is yours, and the more you use it within certain limits the more will it improve ; 

 but let it lie waste and you will lose the benefit. So is it here. The more the ground 

 is cultivated if this be done in accordance with the laws of Him who made it, the 

 more fruitful does it become. Neglect it and it is otherwise. At the same time there 

 is no waste. If man wil not till the ground for his own use, God will resume it, and 

 raise that which it is best in all the circumstances of the case should then be grown. 



' If man be dissatisfied, the remedy is in his own hands : let him by manual labour 

 raise corn or some other crop ministering to the wants of man or beast, and plant 

 trees on spots which he cannot thus cultivate, and he will reap the reward. But if he 

 acts otherwise, and not only refrains from so doing, but burns the veldt as an improvi- 

 dent means of saving himself trouble, he may read his sin in his punishment. 



' Such is my interpretation of what is seen in this act of providential government. 

 4 Who can harden himself against God, and prosper? 'I have, &c. 



