The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-04-20

oRIL 20. 1900.
year. But now in many instances they
have gone through the entire forest.
The character of the Hawaiian forest
] makes it peculiarly susceptible to in
J jury by cattle. The tender, succulent
I underground is easily trampled down,
! and much of it. especially Ie-ie, banana
and some OF the ferns, is excellent food
for stock Yet this underground IS a
/ vital part OF the forest: without It the
! ground dries quickly, and the shallow
rooted trees soon die
Goats were introduced info the IS
lands many years ago, and have been
] particularly active agents OF destrac-
/ ton. They are now found on all the
/ important islands Their work, though
4 localized, is more thoroughly destruc-
/ tive than the work of cattles Ridges
/ where they rendezvous may be dis
tinguished for miles by their utter
barrenness and eroded condition. Goats
are especially hard on PERCEPTIONS
+ slopes. They will lay completely bare
places so steep as TO be Stunned alto
gether by cattle.
/ Wild pigs, the progeny of stock in
troduced years ago, have done some
damage on all the islands. They tear
+ up the tree fern, seeking its roots for
| food
Deer, brought to Molokai in the early
sixties. have taken their share in the
destructive work Several years ago
they had increased to such immense
numbers as to damage the forest CON
| siderably by browsing on and trampling
down the underground and rubbing the
bark from the Young trees
Insects.--F Following the attack of
stock have come other agents of de-
struction Injurious insects have at
times appeared in numbers sufficient TO
! deaden thousands of acres at a time
Ol1ia-ai. which grows in dense stands
in low, wet valleys, was 50 completely
defoliated few years ago as to be
almost ruined. Koa IS periodically de-
foIiated 1t has upwards of a dozen
insect enemies which threaten its utter
extinction. Borers are even more COM
mon than 1eaf-eating insects In nearly
all cases insects have been most severe
where the forest was enervated by graz
ing. Portions of the i1ngrazed forest
have at times been destroyed by insects,
but only in consequence of the head
way gained on nearby areas which have
suffered by grazing.
Grasses.-Many thousand acres of
forest land despoiled by cattle have
been overrun by rank-growing grasses
which have rendered conditions prohib-
tive of forest reproductions Prob
ably the worst of these is Hilo grass
(Paspalum conjugatum1, which grows
2 to 8 feet high in the rainy districts
and forms dense mat several inches
thick over the surface of the ground.
Tree seeds cannot terminate beneath it.
Another coarse grass of similar habits
IS the so-called rice grass (Maulike).
But it is neither SO common nor so
prohibitive of reproduction as Hilo
grass.
In drier districts Gerrnuda grass { Ma
nienie) obtains such a hold as to pre-
vent forest reproduction and even hind
er tree growth. Some of the forests
of Hamakua and Kohala in Hawaii
have died from no other apparent
cause than a predominant growth of
this grass.
Fire.-Fire has done far more injury
in Hawaiian forests than would be sup
posed in regions of SO great rainfall
The most serious fire within recent
years occurred two years ago in south
ern HamaktIa It burned an area fl
teen miles long and two to four miles
wide. leaving unburned only OCCASION
al patches. Trees. underground and
hunlus were generally completely de-
stroyed. The forest was a normal one
for the islands. consisting of fairly
heavy growth of Lefiia and Koa, with
heavy underground of fern and a
deep accumulation of humus Ordin-
arily this forest could not have been.
burned, but a severe drought prevailing
for several months previously had dried
it out to the point where it burned with
great rapidity. AT the present time the
land is covered with fallen trees and
debris, and IN places a growth of weeds.
But little reproduction has as yet taken
place, and as practically all seeds and
seed trees. on the area were burned,
there is no possibility of immediate re-
production. Whatever growth comes
ZIP on the land must come from seeds
carried In from other places.
Other forest districts, particularly on
Kauai and Maui, have also suffered
from fire, though there have been no
other recent burns so severe as the one
mentioned above.
There is distinct evidence of a severe
fire upwards of fifty years ago in the
southern part of Hafnakua This FIRE
burned over a tract of large, though
unknown, extent. 1t killed practically
all the forest and underground, and
consumed the hunus It's heat must
have been intense, for it baked the soil
to such an extent thats at the present
time it shows as a brick-like LAYER
from to 6 inches thick. In many
cases it burned the roots of trees sew
erai feet below the surface The forest
which has come up on the ground fol-
lowing this fire, though composed of
the same species as the ordinary Ha-
in conditions and requirements The
trees have grown slowly, and have less
than the usual amount of underground,
but they have far greater power than
the normal forest to withstand grazing.
Cutting-The forest has been con
siderably reduced by cutting. Destruc-
tive cutting began by the removal of