THE MEADOWS. 



85 



In the wet districts meadows are lacking, except on the high moun- 

 tains. In the drier parts, such as eastern Hawke's Bay, eastern and 

 central Otago, and the Canterbury Plain, they are much in evidence, 

 .and, where the soil is very stony, may even merge into deserts. 



Besides the meadow lands just mentioned, there are in the Dominion 

 many others where the fields are green enough, and where, at any 

 rate, buttercups, daisies, and oxeyes are not absent, much to the 

 regret of the farmer. But such fields are quite artificial, and afford 



... .-V 



;V" : V 



. 38. Forest (Xothofagus cliff ortioides) giving place to Grass-land, the effect 

 of wind. Near Source of River Poulter, Canterbury. 



[Photo, L. Cockayne. 



merely examples of the changes wrought by man changes which he 

 accomplished long ago in the British Isles, where the meadows, and 

 forests too. for that matter, must be entirely different from those of 

 primeval Britain, and where no natural combinations of plants now 

 exist. And since the advent of the w r hite man, New Zealand has year 

 by year changed more and more, so that had not great national parks 

 been wisely set aside, where it is to be hoped the vegetation will ever 



