114 J. H. MAIDEN. 



b. Danger of cutting trees too near the ivater-courses. 

 — All over the State people have made a mistake in sapping 

 too near the rivers and water-courses. The dry, dead 

 timber at the edge of the water-course no longer holds the 

 banks for the reason that their roots have shrivelled and 

 decayed and have no gripping power. Then the tree gets 

 top heavy and breaks down the banks, and the second 

 chapter of mischief starts. 



The innumerable creeks will doubtless require to be dealt 

 with in any effective remedy for the mitigation of floods. 

 There is evidence everywhere of broadening streams, of 

 banks breaking down and good soil washed away. Apple 

 (Angophora intermedia), and River Oak (Casuarina Cun- 

 ningliamiana), doubtless filled these flats, and they have 

 been removed in order to cultivate the rich land to the 

 fullest extent. The denudation is going on in geometrical 

 progression. There are farmers even in a small valley like 

 that of the Page near Murrurundi, who have lost as much 

 as 50 acres through breaking down of banks. 



What we see in the small creeks is repeated in the big 

 rivers, so this is not a local matter merely as regards the 

 little creeks. With friable banks every fresh carries down 

 soil to the lower levels, and the stronger the current of 

 course the greater the debris. This tends to work destruc- 

 tion at the lower levels. By all means therefore let us 

 encourage people to prevent the erosion of the land higher 

 up. It is not only that land is lost by erosion, but the land 

 becomes a motive power to destroy property lower down. 

 Much of the silt that people complacently see deposited on 

 their ground is of course the soil of some unfortunate 

 cultivator. 



The matter might settle itself eventually by there being 

 no more friable material to be washed away from the upper 

 lands. If one could estimate the percentage of "flats" 



