Obituary. xi 



THOMAS WILLIAM ADAMS, 1841-1919. 



Thomas William Adams was born in 1841 at Grravely, Cambridgeshire, 

 England. He was educated first at a private school in Cambridge, and 

 later at the British and Foreign Normal School. London. In 1862 he 

 arrived at Lvtteiton, and soon aftei' took up land at Gi'eendale, on the 

 Canterbury Plain, where he successfully followed farming for many years. 

 The necessity for jn-oviding shelter for his stock against the frequent 

 high winds showed Mr. Adams, as it did many of tlie ])ioneers, that the 

 planting of shelter-belts was essential. A little later tree- planting was 

 encouraged by the Government of the day by means of land grants in 

 proportion to th<' area phuited. As time went on he was not content to 

 ])lant oidv the usual trees, but, stimulated l)y the true spirit of research, 

 he Sought to hnd out wh.at other trees were suited to the conditions sup- 

 plied by his neighbourhood — an area typical of much of the Canterbury 

 Plain. So it came about that before many years had passed by he had 

 growing upon his property pretty well all the exotic trees which at that 

 time had been introduced into New Zealand. This made it necessary for 

 him to go fartlier afield for his material, and he got into touch with some 

 of the most celebrated arboriculturists of the day, and also botanical 

 collectors in little-known regions, so that seeds of many species of trees 

 and shrubs came yearly into his hands. 



As the years passed by, tlumks to his love for the self-imposed task 

 and to his superabundant energy, his Greendale estate not only possessed 

 fine mixed plantations, but easily the largest collection of living specimens 

 of exotic trees and shrubs in New Zealand, representing not unworthily 

 the hardy tree and shrub flora of the world. In conjunction with this 

 practical work Mr. Adams became a close student of the literature relating 

 to that class of plants which interested him so greatly, so that no one in 

 the Dominion possessed sucli a wide knoAvledge of the subject. Nor did 

 he neglect the broader aspects of his ])ursuit. Here his researches with 

 regard to the Monterey j)ine {Pirins rddiafa) as a timber-tree can without 

 hesitation be declared the most important advance which forestry has 

 made in New Zealand u]) to the present time, and one which will eventually 

 add great wealth to the country. That a tree universally despised as 

 economically worthless (unless for inferior firewood) should, through Mr. 

 Adams's experiments and unceasing advocacy of its value, come to be 

 recognized by all New Zealand foresters as a most important timber-tree 

 speaks volumes as to his acumen and careful investigations. Indeed, 

 Mr. Adams through his teaching regarding the value of the Monterey pine 

 materially modified the forestry policy of the Dominion. Here was a tree, 

 hardly used in the early forestry operations, whose rapidity of growth 

 combined with the many uses of its timber made its planting on the 

 largest scale a highly payable proposition easy of demonstration. 



In 1897 Mr. Adams joined the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand 

 Institute. Though living too far from Christchurch to take an active part 

 in the management of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, he 

 attended the meetings whenever possible, read papers at times, delivered 

 addresses, and showed interesting exhibits from his arboretum. Several 

 of his papers appear in our Transactions, one in the Report of the 

 Australasian Association for 1904, and a number in the Journal of the 

 Canterbunj Agricultural and Pastoral Association. These papers form a 



