228 Tr ansae tio ns. — Ch emis try . 



plants, and rendering them still more subject to the effects of 

 the severe heat. During winter the temperature falls rapidly 

 at times, and sharp frosts are felt, which, with the severe 

 wind-storms that sweep across the plain, has a serious ef- 

 fect upon vegetation, and is a factor to be borne in mind in 

 viewing the possibility of grassing this plain. Unfortunately 

 there are no meteorological results obtainable nearer than 

 Taupo or Eotorua, where the conditions are so different as 

 to make them of but little value for the subject now under 

 consideration. 



The vegetation on the plain is chiefly stunted tea-tree, 

 both Leptosjjermum scoparium and L. ericoides, and Draco- 

 23hylhom subidatum, and a few other plants and mosses. The 

 tussock-grass {Poa aiistralis) is widely met with, and in some 

 of the moister depressions — and particularly during spring and 

 early summer — the young growth and' flower-stalks attract 

 large herds of wild horses, whose condition betokens fair nutri- 

 ment even on these despised plains. Occasionally alongside 

 the tracks, which ramify in a most bewildering manner, will 

 be found patches of imported grasses and clovers growing 

 luxuriantly, whilst on the edges of many of the swampy por- 

 tions of the plain patches of white-clover often more than half 

 an acre in extent may be found, cropped close and tramped to 

 a beautiful lawn-like level, appearing as oases in the wilder- 

 ness of pumice-sand and stunted tea-tree. 



Now, it is impossible to traverse this vast plain, with its 

 almost interminable monotony of pumice-sand and stunted 

 vegetation, without wishing that it had been a rich basic in- 

 stead of a poor acidic soil, without wondering whether it is 

 not capable of some treatment which would at least make it 

 of more value for grazing purposes than as at present, by the 

 herds of horses that roam at large or the hares which have 

 made their homes on the plain and appear to be on the in- 

 crease. It was in this mood that we decided to investigate 

 the subject. We were aware that some attention had already 

 been given to the growth of various grasses by Mr. F. D. Rich, 

 of the Patatere Plains, and, on behalf of the Government, by 

 Mr. H. J. Matthews, at Rangitaiki, on the Kaingai'oa Plain, to 

 which we shall refer later ; but no systematic analyses have 

 been made of the soils, nor have the causes of the sparsity of 

 vegetation been considered from the point of available nutri- 

 tion in the land itself. Having, then, decided to investigate 

 the matter, it was agreed that one of us should take the 

 samples personally so far as possible, and in March and April 

 last Mr. Pond commenced the work of obtaining them when 

 on a visit to Taupo and the surrounding district. These 

 samples were taken as far as possible uncontaminated by the 

 ordure of animals, and under conditions which would best 



