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Prevention And Restoration.
The question may naturally be asked, Are there no means of prevention and restoration ?
In regard to prevention the answer has already been anticipated. All that is necessary is to hermetically seal the bush against the incursion of stock and make adequate provision against fires. But the remedy, though simple enough, is not always easy of application. It is obvious that no such general measure could be adopted in the case of the bush at large, especially in the neighbourhood of settlement, where all unoccupied land is used as a common run. However much we may lament it, the great bulk of the bush will have to take its chance; and, in regard to detached portions of small area, such as a man might hope to preserve on his farm, there are several difficulties to contend with which generally render an attempt in this direction fruitless. Not only are they in continual danger from accidental fires, but from want of the shelter of the surrounding bush, of which they originally formed a portion, they die back at the edges, and sooner or later resolve themselves into clumps of scrubby survivals of some of the more hardy varieties. It is possible that, by planting some quick-growing trees, such as the Australian wattles, round the portions intended to be preserved, both a
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check to the advance of the fire and the required shelter would he provided. At any rate, the experiment is well worth, trying. In the case of reserves chosen with due regard to topographical and climatic conditions the case is more hopeful. On some of our mountainous promontories and wooded islands there should be no difficulty, at a slight expense for fencing and supervision, in preserving for posterity large areas of forest of unsurpassed scenic beauty and of great economic value.
Restoration might also be hopefully attempted under similar conditions. Experiments in our parks and gardens show that most, if not all, of the native trees will grow freely under cultivation. But such an artificial procedure need not generally be taken. Nature makes a brave effort to reclothe the hills and gullies of New Zealand in her verdant mantle, and if let alone would bring her work to completion. Under favourable circumstances seedling trees soon make their appearance, and if protected from injury would in due time attain to maturity. Of course, anything like a real restoration of the original bush is out of the question, but the “second growth” has a beauty of its own which is by no means to be despised. This natural attempt at reafforesting may be seen on a large scale in many parts of the colony, especially in elevated and damp situations, such as the steep hills and gullies of the Northern Peninsula, the ranges about Coro-mandel and Mercury Bay, and the upland portions of the Nelson Province; and it is interesting to notice that everywhere the trees which are characteristic of the locality are not long in making their appearance.
Nothing, however, either in the way of prevention or restoration can be hoped for without a radical change in public opinion, and a general improvement in public taste. So long as the farmer persists in cutting down the native growth that is at once an ornament to his property and a shelter to his stock, in order to make room for a row of Cupressus macrocarpa or Pinus insignis, or so long as the gum-digger and bush-larrikin are allowed to put a match into anything that will burn, there is not much hope for either prevention or restoration. Year by year the destruction will continue, and the rate of the disappearance of the New Zealand bush will be proportionately accelerated as population increases and settlement spreads abroad.