Richard St. Barbe Baker

Richard St. Bark Raker’s work as a forester, tree-planter, and founder of the Society of The Men of the Trees is known in every country in the world. The first The Men of the Trees were the Kikuyu of Kenya where the author spent seven years as a Conservator of Forests. As a boy St. Bathe Baker learned forestry in Hampshire. As a youth he served an apprenticeship on the North West Frontier where he hunted with Cree Indians who taught him to ‘live on the forests’. He has planted trees in Australia, New Zealand and Palestine: his fight for the preservation of the majestic Redwoods of the United States of America made history. In 1953, he led an expedition into the Sahara that discovered traces of lost forests and lakes beneath the sands. ‘Dance of the Trees’ is the story of a ceaseless struggle to defend nature from the encroaching desert. If forests are not conserved, the author declares, the world will become a desert. Already he is preparing a project called The Sahara Reclamation Scheme which might make fertile a desert greater in area than Australia. In the Great War Richard St. Bathe Baker served as a soldier, and in the last war as a mounted policeman. He lives strenuously, dangerously and happily; his story; is enriched by his memories of famous people and great.

In every way this is a beautiful book in its vision, in its style, in its illustration. With a simplicity to match his subject, the author has written an original and very moving story of an African boy. Kamiti, born in the highlands of Kenya, dreams a great dream, that of preserving the wealth and the splendor of the forest lands of Africa, and he sets out to turn his dream into reality. for the sake of his country and his people. In his warmly appreciative foreword, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Prime Minister of Ghana, writes: “The story is beautifully written, uncomplicated, honest and sincere. So ordered is the pattern of African village life that the story told could have been that of my own early childhood. … I heartily recommend this book to all those who wish to understand the African people.”

The Redwoods of California are the supreme achievement of tree growth in the world. Magnificent, wonderful, fabulous, they are unimaginable to those who have never entered the vaulted groves of the Coast Redwoods or gazed in wonder at the giants of the high sierra. The oldest living things on earch, many of them have seen 4000 years, forty centuries, come and go. In this book, with its superb pictures, the reader may share, for a time, the delight, the sense of awe and the refreshment of spirit which comes to all those who visit the famous Redwoods. The text is a veritable mine of information, and the author, one of the foremost living foresters, matches his scientific knowledge with a passionate sense of the beauty and value of the glorious natural heritage here portrayed.

The position in Kenya is a cause of concern to all of us, but an informed opinion can only be had by knowing something of the peoples involved. KABONGO, essentially a literary work, portrays Kikuyu life and custom, and indicates, without polemics or politics, the Kikuyu viewpoint. No sensational descriptions of Mau Mau atrocities are found here, but rather the expression of the deep fears, the sense of injustice, the disillusionment of a primitive people confronted with severe troubles which they cannot feel they have brought upon themselves. It is a warm personal story, depicting the social back ground, the culture, the laws and customs, the work, play and worship of the Kikuyu, all of which are now in the melting pot. The twenty beautiful woodcuts, by Yvonne Skargon, are authentic portrayals of Kikuyu dress and manner.

CAPT. BAKER is a forestry officer, not an anthropologist; yet his story of how he enlisted the services of the natives in conservation and afforestation work is an object-lesson in the practical application of knowledge of native custom and psychology to a problem in which the practice of the indigenous inhabitant ran counter to the end which the administration had in view. Probably Capt. Baker's object could not have been attained in any other way. An order framed to constrain native action might have been ignored or even disobeyed; and, in any event, it would almost certainly have led to friction.

A compilation of new discoveries of new lands, archaeology, the voyage of the Joseph Conrad, the first flight from England, Mallory and Norton on Mount Everest, Brazilian wilderness, and more.

The fascinating memoirs of the late Assistant Conservator of Forests in Kenya and the southern provinces of Nigeria during the early to mid-nineteenth century during the heyday of British Imperial Empire in Africa, author became a 'blood brother' of the Kikuyu in Kenya and succeeded in reforesting vast swathes of territory. Author traveled widely across Africa and became an initiate of the secret society of 'Kiama'.

After visiting New Zealand, the author, a noted writer on silviculture, describes the erosion and exploitation of soil he found there, what has been achieved to lessen this destruction and what still needs to be done. A work which focuses on a greater understanding of the vital function of tree cover.

Richard St. Barbe Baker's life as a forester has taken him to most parts of the world, to strange and exciting places where strange and exciting trees grow. Through his love and care for them he has become a friend of those whose live depend upon trees. In this book he describes many of the varieties he has encountered on his travels. He tells the interesting histories of these trees and the significant uses to which many have been put throughout the centuries. He talks about the oldest, broadest and tallest trees, and of the exploits and adventures of earlier tree enthusiasts. Trees are often given scant consideration nowadays, and from this book we ma learn more about these fascinating, life-giving, majestic plants.

The author began his career as a Forest Conservator in Kenya and his experience of desertification there led him to found ‘The Men of the Trees’ movement that eventually spread around the world. In later life he came to live at Mount Cook Station and this work is a tribute to the trees of his adopted land, illustrated with photographs.

This is a story of the forests of the world: their extent, character, and variety; their role in maintaining a balance in nature; their destruction, management, and replacement; and, lastly, but most important, the consequences of their mismanagement upon the character of the countryside and upon the economy of nations. It is a story which has been told many times before, but rarely so effectively. With the possible exception of South America, no region of the world has been spared the destruction of its forests which has so closely followed the colonization of the land. Only a handful of nations—Sweden, Finland, Russia, Yugoslavia—have recovered t0 a point where the harvesting of trees is matched by the rate of replacement. The consequences have been inevitable and disastrous. The floods of the Yellow River which have depleted great areas of topsoil in China; the steady advance of the Sahara and Arabian deserts, which but short centuries ago were clothed in forests; and in our own country, the Dust Bowl of the 1930's, the passing of the tremendous white pine forests of the north, and the perilous lowering of the water table in the southwest are but a few examples of the effects of widespread deforestation. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, formed in the depression days to combat unemployment, can trace its origin to forest depletion and the need for conservation practices. This book, however, is more than an cloquent plea for conservation. It is an urgent warning that the well-being of a nation—and the United States is no exception—is intimately bound up in innumerable ways with its forest resources, and that the destruction of these without their replacement is national suicide. To be sure, steps have been taken to replace our dwindling reserves, but the United States, like other nations, long ago passed the point of being self-sufficient in this respect. The author knows his subject, and he speaks with a conviction arising out of this sure knowledge. One can only wish that his proposal to the United Nations to turn the armies of the world into foresters would be considered seriously by all nations.

This is a book that will surely become beside reading for many generations to come. After the stress and strain of the work-a-day world what better refreshment for mind and spirit than tot have communion with the trees and learn something more of their mystery from a master of his craft? The Author’s lifelong dedication to the cause of the tree has been such as to absorb his whole being and it is, therefore, not surprising that in this, perhaps his greatest work, he should have written of his beloved trees in their Biblical and Classical settings as illustrative and expressive of the deepest mysteries and the highest qualities of the One Universal Life. The trees are a vital link between man and his Creator. The more he reacts rightly to the threes the more he grows in spiritual stature as well as material benefit. But if his reactions are those of ignorance and destruction—as has so often been the case throughout history—he brings himself to the very point of self-destruction. In the present parlous state of the world a new understanding of trees is vital to mankind, and a new attitude towards their culture essential to the preservation of life, on this planet. Not only are the various trees with which the earth is blest messengers of their Creator at the highest mystical level, but, like Himself they provide abundantly for all practical needs as well. Trees are a never-ending Joy and the Authors, whose Joy in them is abounding, pour out from the rich treasury of his knowledge and experience. The trees speak to us of Infinite Diversity and yet of Unity; of Strength; of Beauty; of adaptability from the most fertile to the most barren conditions of the earth. They provide, properly husbanded, materials for our shelter and our garmenting, and by their water-retaining power make all agriculture possible. Lastly, they are responsible for the very air we breathe without which we should have no existence at all.

On the founding of a native society to protect the Central African forests Tribes which by the destruction of the trees had laid waste vast stretches of equatoreal Africa were turned into protectors and planters by means of a now ceremonial dance. The movement spread like fire across the land and to-day a member of The Men of the Trees is an honoured man amongst the boldest of the local folk. The tale is astonishing. Legend, buffalo hunts and naive forest scenes reveal the likeable charackter of the trusting Africans who so quickly react to sincerity.