102 \VII.U I. IKK IN NKW XK.M.AND. 



'.seventies' the sheep-runs of Central Otago were reputed t.. carry 

 at leas! one sheeji to .'5 acres, or somewhat less." 



Mr. IVtrie. who has reported to the Department of A-rieulture 

 on these- graBB-denuded lands of Central Otago. knows more about 

 this subject than any one else who has written on it. and 1 quote 

 him at some length. He says. "Before tin- rabbit invasion benan 

 the hill-slopes carried a fairly rich and varied covering of tussock 

 and other grasses, and. except on the steeper rock and sun-baked 

 faces, had not been seriously depleted even in the early 'nineties.' 

 The earlier stages of this depletion may now be seen in several of 

 the Central Otago ranges, as on the spin's of the Hough Kidge and 

 the Morven Hills districts. The northern slopes of the spurs are 

 almost, in many instances, entirely bare of grass, while the southern 

 shaded slopes still carry a fair amount of pasture. The j 

 covering generally stops abruptly at the bottoms of the valleys, 

 even when those are not worn into water -channels. The vastly 

 greater depletion of the pasture on the northern slopes is easy 

 enough to understand. They are more exposed to the sun and to 

 the frequent violent parching north-West winds; they lose their 

 covering of snow earlier in spring than the southern slopes, and 

 are thus more closely grazed at a critical season for the pasture: 

 and sheep at all times show a preference for feeding on the warmer 

 sunny slopes. When the pasture on the exposed slopes fails, that 

 on the shaded slopes has to feed all the stock that is about, and 

 unless MM' Stocking is reduced to meet the new conditions th. 

 msiining grasses are sooner or later eaten out. The desert, with 

 all its problems, is then established." 



In his account of how desert conditions arise in Central Otauo 

 Mr. IVtrie refers only to the effects produced by sheep, because it 

 I'N the loss in sheep-carryiiig capacity which is so serious; but 



r .m. after describing a typical specimen of the country, and 

 -bowing that in inaccessible situations a considerable variety of 

 vigorous grasses live on. he adds. "This is one of the facts that 

 _' to indicate that ihe ext erm ina t ion of the graSSCC in this d< 

 country is mainly due to eating out by overstocking, rabbit 

 well as shi-i-p being included amonir the stoek carried. 

 Tin- desert and the L'lvatlv denuded lands are not wholly destitutr 

 of ve^-tation. In mosi of their lower area! greyish, flattened, 

 firm, nearly circular patches of scabweed (/ff/mtfift tinst ra/ia ;in d 



