‘Map, 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 223 
first duty, therefore, is as obvious as it is cheap; we must preserve, 
all considerations of timber or wood supply, these silent witnesses 
if fy past, whether they consist of woods covering hundreds of acres, 
va © or three shrubs guarding a mountain spring. The black, ever 
valk 4g for the material wherewith to build his inefficient and leaky 
thy 18 Cannot in any case be too quickly taught to use other materials 
a young trees, for, unless conservation of woods is shortly enforced with 
_ i strictness, there will soon be none to supply the wattles required by an 
hen, wcteasing population of aborigines. Though we may grow wattles for 
it 2 We cannot keep pace with such a demand ; while the legitimate thinnings 
, ‘hae largest bushes would hardly more than supply one small tribe. Forest 
otk ction must be stopped now by force, or, in a very few years, by the 
. : any woods to destroy. Discontent will have to be faced in either 
ng Ut in the latter it will be ageravated by a tacit confession of weakness 
0 ur part. Natal would have a far better right to be called the “ Garden 
tbove 
chy ‘if she made a better use of her ample rainfall than to swell her 
lp dothes” and to wash away her punts and bridges. If our bare hillsides were 
1) fg or even partially girdled, with woods to stay the rapid surface-loss 
upp “immer rains, permanent springs would arise, high upon their slopes, to 
‘ll thee” m winter the water needed by lands far above the drainage level of 
| Taig) ty: No engineering can do more than irrigate patches of land in 
ik Watey: because that drainage level lies low amidst mountains that shed their 
f° a ike so many house-roofs ; and the little that can be done must be costly, 
a Works to the suddenness and violence of the freshets endangering the intake 
| direct] of any canal, however well constructed. Our towns not only suffer 
aii thot, Y from the alternation of superabundance and deficiency of water, 
| tas, gh the bareness of the watersheds supplying them, but also from the mud 
| eben into that water by every rain. ‘The country is well washed at the 
A torep Se of the citizens, who have to drink the soiled water and risk enteric 
| tne pty rainy season. Afforestation of the watersheds is the only real 
1 tor Y—there is no filter like bush-humus, and, if it is of slow growth, all the 
| han reason for preserving every scrap of bush we have left, while losing no 
7 of planting more. 
vere are land-owners in Natal who are both preserving their bush and 
then’ it by plantations. ‘Let their reasons be what they will, utilitarian or 
thong 0? they are equally patriotic; but we must not lose sight of the fact that 
fom 1 others who will not only “ cut out” the patches they may find on their 
j up ; but allow the kafirs to destroy what is left in order to keep near them a 
8 ee labour. Such men are mere exploiters of the country, and it becomes 
} 8004 fe if their actions with regard to bush should not be controlled for the 
|| Then » the community. In the happier times we are all looking forward to, 
to th Peace again prevails, let us hope that any surplus funds may be devoted 
“most permanent of all improvements of the country—afforestation. 
FORESTRY IN SICILY. 
hy See 
fn iilian Government long ago recognised the fact that the destruction of 
tangs oD hilltops and on steep hillsides has a most disastrous effect on the 
in the valleys below. On this head Dr. W. Schlich, late Inspector- 
Cong; al of Forests to the Government of India, says, “The next point for 
byt, tation is the effect of forests on floods, landslips, erosion,’ &c. If Great 
the ti, and Ireland were situated in a more southern latitude, or removed from 
a 
Pobaby 
Nina,” make afforestation a necessity. The upper part of the hill ranges is 
You NY cases bare, and there afforestation might produce good effects, but it 
dong escver pay, and could only be justified on public ground if the damage 
the rushing down of rain-water was great. Damage by floods occurs 
ion’ Parts, but it will be cheaper to meet it by engineering works than by 
“tation of unpromising (rocky) steep hillsides. 
» their configuration, especially that of Scotland and Ireland, would ~ 
