The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1900-11-13
|EDEI LOWS lEPlI
TO PROFESSOR kgEDElE
cRITIcIzES THE EETONoLo-
GIsT-s REPORT ON FOE
EsTs IN HAWAII.
Holds That Cattle do Not Destroy
the Growth of Young Trees
Suggests Plan 20 Pre-
serve Forests.
To the Editor of The Republican:

served by him during his short visit here
last August The professor may be a
learned entomoiogist. but when he comes
to the forests here. he is talking through
his bug net
Il He did not see one-twentieth of the for
est existing here: what he saw was only
on our main road or trail. where we have
been driving cattle backward and forward
would observe the underbrush cleared up.
trees barked. etc. To make report Of
/ what he observed on each side OF the trail
/ is a poor example TO illustrate.
L The first day the professor was here
/ sent a man with him TO see the young
mamane trees that We're destroyed by
the icerya between Puuwaawaa and Pu-
/ unahulu. He took his observation of
trees that were along the trail which was
no doubt sufficient. as he found the lady
/ bird doing its good work. He brought me
| back some OF the ladybird larvae. He
cannot say how much of this forest has
been destroyed. 1t was good thing that
| he saw the blight and was satisfied that il
was not the cattle that killed them. 1t
was not hundred. but thousands. of
trees destroyed. l wish that he could
/ have seen the whole forest. | noticed
some of the mamane forest along the flow
of 1889. about seven miles from where
the professor went. covered with blight
and hundreds of trees dead
| | took the professor to the top of the
noted hill of Puuwaawaa. which is fenced
off and used as a fattening paddock. Ii
has been in use for the last seventeen
years. Ask the professor if he found the
forest destroyed. or the grasses and un-
derbrush eaten down. Ask him. also. did
he notice hundreds of young mamane trees
spreading on the mauka base of this hill
He will no doubt say that he did not no.
tice them. In my orchard on this hill
are number of young koa trees. besides
aawa. onia. mamane. kauila. naio. ma
maxi and several varieties of creepers
| which | had to cut down to make room
for my foreign fruit trees. Does this ap-
peNy denuded of forest after being used
seventeen years for a paddock?
Had | known that part of the profess
sors trip was TO report on the conditions
of the existing forests on this ranch
would have taken him Though paddocks
]. > and ;. about 1.5OO acres i'm EACH and
could have shown to his astonishment. as
well as satisfaction. the denseness of the
mamane forest. After the shrubs such
as piio and aheahea have been eaten off
by cattle the mamane shoots up and
proves a very valuable tree for shelter.
for it allows the feed TO grow luxuriantly
beneath it. | discovered this during my
first years experience here. | overstocked
a small paddock with cattle for the pur-
pose of clearing away the underbrush,
thereby allowing the rich feed to grow
such as milkweed. Spanish clover. etc
| Immediately noticed that the ma,nane
came up in great numbers. and | have
since followed this plan until now it is
docks l and >. and on the hill called He
MAIZENA,. about 800 feet elevation. there
is nothing but mamane growing. while
only a few years back there was rcthirg
but a few shrubs such as ulei and aalii.
There are certain places in all my pad |
docks where cattle viii not go on account
of the IA flows: the valuable trees such |
as kauila and uhiuhi are dying especially
along the new proposed road. where no
cattle are, | find alahee. also naio and
other shrubs dying by the thousand
One day while herding cattle the pro-
fessor went along with us an spent his |
time 10 king for bugs and insects. cap
safely say that he did not go over a quar-
ter of a mile from where the men ware |
We returned on the same trail TO the
house. From such observations as these |
hardly think it fair for the professor to |
predict that fifty years hence this land
will be denuded of forest. leaving nothing
but rocks. | can safely state that the |
land of Puuwaawaa. if carried On as it |
now is. will in fifty years time he able 70 |
show. for every tree destroyed by cattle. |
twenty growing in its place. Ii viii not |
be wiliwili. apike. halapepe. ohe or koiea. |
but it will be hard wood such as mamane. |
kauila. sandalwood or uhiuhi.
Cattle. admit. destroy the following |
trees: Koa. apiko. ohe. halapepe. ulci. !
aalii. pilo and kolea. informed the |
professor that / had about 12.000 acres |
of land fenced of from cattle. and on this
piece of property could have shown HIN /
a naio forest actually riddIed with holes. |
The ,,-.,.,S ara ha;p, consolidated No, tx- Il
cattle but by beetles or hugs: koa trees
are being attacked in the same manner. |
and in three or four years will be extinct. |
OF course the blame for this will fall on
the cattle. Is this right: Ii was on this
reserve section that l pointed to Cover
mol Dole the affected trees Here he tried
TO get few koa seeds but found the ma
jorify of them worm-eaten. How tan
enc expect forest TO grow from worm
eaten seeds: There are no Young trees
growing in this reserve section Take. for
example. the following The akolea or
jungle fern grows at this latitude so rank
that no man or beast can go through il.
In the year 1877 il was rs If a herd of
three Thousand cattle had been over IL
You could ride from one end of the noun
tain TO the other. What did il: The
weather. Had Professor Rochelle or some
other brilliant government Official been
in the vicinity at that time the poor
ranchman's stock would have got the
blame. We have had good rains again
and the ferns are now as rank rs ever. /;
Near Kihoio the shrubs are attached by
small black scales also notiee this BE-
tween Ruuanahuln and Keamoku. and Il
has been this way for the last seven yean