168 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



kauri, pittosporums, and various other forest-plants, as well as almost 

 all the members of the subalpine scrub, should not be cultivated 

 almost anywhere. The mistake so frequently made is to attempt 

 the impossible i.e.., trying to grow a plant in a climate quite unsuit- 

 able. It is unreasonable, for example, to expect that the majority 

 of lowland North Island trees can be grown in Canterbury, Otago, 

 and Southland, just as it is hardly wise to try to cultivate 

 plants of alpine and subantarctic meadows in the hottest or driest 

 localities. 



For the successful cultivation of many of our plants no particular 

 soil or situation is required. Perhaps, on the w r hole, a slightly shady 

 position is best. It is well, too, to have some shelter against high 

 winds, especially at first. Such shelter can be supplied by certain 

 indigenous trees e.g., species of Pittosporutn, Olearia Traversii, Senecio 

 rotundifolius, Coprosma Baueri (not hardy everywhere), Coprosma 

 robusta, and Veronica elliptica. Of course, an accurate knowledge as 

 to the situation in which a plant grows naturally is of extreme value, 

 and the method of studying the plant societies adopted in this book is 

 of moment in this respect. But this is not all. It must have been 

 seen by the reader that one particular species may grow in most diverse 

 stations, and that another may grow in a wet place which is physio- 

 logically dry. For instance, because a plant grows in a sphagnum 

 bog, it would not necessarily be wise to plant it in a very wet part of a 

 garden. To attempt to grow the lovely Olearia semidentata of the 

 Chathams in such a place would be to court disaster ; it must be 

 grown in well-drained ground where there is good shelter. Nor because 

 the great forget-me-not of the same group is a sea-shore plant need one 

 despair to cultivate it inland. In short, an acquaintance with natural 

 conditions combined with experimental planting is a necessity for a 

 full knowledge as to the cultural requirements of our plants. 



METHODS OF PROPAGATION AND COLLECTING. 



Quite a number of New Zealand plants can now be procured 

 cheaply at some of the nurseries, and from such many will obtain 

 what they may require. However, there will always be some who 

 prefer to collect what takes their fancy in the forest, on the hillsides, 

 or elsewhere. This, as well as being a healthy and delightful occupa- 

 tion, will stock a garden with mementos of many ;i happy hour, and 

 will recall scenes of beauty. 



