Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1910-11-16


forest cover whether II be CONNER
cial forest OF over which will pre-.
serve the land against wash AMI
hold back and conserve the rain wa
tors. offer this idea of forest COW
or or commercial forest as one for
discussion. and all your attention
to the great algarobl forests which
exist OF many Ur our Islands and
which without the aid of men have
extended over thousands ur acres OF
good. bad. Indifferent aud waste
lands and made there areas profit y
able in many ways. Had the alga- /
roba been started purely as u com.
mercial proposition, and each tree
planted. and did not Icseed as rap |
idly as IL does, how many acres of
alparoba forests would we have had? /
II is possible. with very slight eX- :
pcnsc. To extend the algarOba forest
cover within a few years over tre- !
mendous areas which are now prac.
ii ally waste lands. At present, we
leave 1t entirely to nature ana the
cattle to extend our algaroba ior-
ests. We aIe particularly fortunate
In having the algaroba, as 1t Is pro-
liiis with seed and sets forth every
effort to reproduce. Many of the
trees we are planting take years be-
fore they bear seed aud reproduce.
A few years ago IL was thought that
the algaroba would only grow a few
feet above sea level. On the island
CT Hawaii In the dry district above
Kawaihae, | have found the alga-
roba growing at an elevation of 2OOO
feet and seeding. Why not make Il
concerted effort to cover our waste
slopes so far as possible with this
hard, reldy-gr owing tree which, Ill
itself. is an ideal forest, and not de-
pend entirely upon nature and the
cattle for the distribution OF Its
seed?
Forest Cover.
Il do not belittle commercial tree
planting nor the results which
would accrue therefrom, but | do
believe that our greatest problem, so
far as the conservation of the re-
sources OF this country-water ana
land-can best be served is by the
extension of forest cover. Forest
. over does not necessarily mean the
/ tree; It may. he grasses or shrubs or
vegetable growth of any character
which will hold the soils against ero'
sion. There is some place In this
/ world where there can be found a
vegetable life of value that Will
grow upon YOUR higher levels and
within much shorter period of time
than can possibly be accomplished
by commercial tree planting 10 re-
cover our denuded areas.
The two great natural resour es
of this country are land and water.
To protect one and develop the 9th
cr, the aid of forestry must be IN
voked. In few agricultural coun.
tries is the duty of water for irrl'
cation purposes as large per unit
area as In this Territory, especially
| in the prediction of sugar cane, and
every effort should be made by the
government and our agricultural In
forests to extend our forest cover,
preserve our soils and develop our
water supply to the point of its
greatest beneficial use.
THE Island of KahoOlawe pre-
sents one of the best illustrations as
regards the destruction of forest
cover. Some time since | accompa-
MED Governor Frear and Mr.. Fred
eri k Newell on a tour of invcsti-
cation of this island. Mr.. Newell
made the statement that in all OF
his experiences in the so-callcd arid
West he had never seen such de
struction as was apparent on this
island through the destruction of the
forest cover. Nature is on deli
cate balance in these Islands and II
takes but little to upset and de
stroy the equilibrium, with the re-
suit that wastes take place with
marvellous rapidity.
THE process of soil production Il
slow and takes countless ages, and
nature to protect and hold the soils
supplies the vegetable cover. IN
these Islands. through carelessncs'
and preventable causes, We have de
stroyed the vegetable cover over ire
mcndous areas. These Islands rising
as they do abruptly from the deel
sea, the material which is crodet
by wind and water Is 2arrled to the
sea and lost forever, there being ne
alluvial deposits of any great area
on the Islands.
I'VE have tremendous obIiga
tion and responsibility, and there
can he no division.
"The government can not bear tn;
entire burden, and each individual
and corporation must bear its respec
tive share. Our Territorial Legisla
ture should be extremely liberal II
appropriating for the purposes o
conservation, and hope to see with
in the near future most perfec
coodination between the Federal ant
: Territorial governments, the plant
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