372 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[December, 



I see them now, think of them then and there. 

 Dicksonia antarctica and D. squamosa, were well 

 represented; but havhig previously described 

 them in the October number of the Monthly of 

 1870, I will pass them by. 



Phormium tenax, is a common plant. The 

 well-known P. tenax variegata, so universal a 

 favorite, both in this country and Europe, was 

 an exceedingly scarce plant at the time of which 

 I write, and was but rarely seen. The New 

 Zealand flax is one of the most useful plants in 

 the country, especially so to the natives, who 

 use it for thread, cordage, mats, baskets, bags 

 and various things. 



Along the margins of rivers, and the rich, 

 loamy bottoms of the valleys, Caladium esculen- 

 tum flourishes amazingly. As an esculent the 

 natives of Australasia not only eat it, but the 

 roots of Cordylines, as I have frequently seen. 

 To judge them, according to my civilized 

 palate, they are the most abominably insipid 

 trash I ever tasted, Marselia macropus, or Nar- 

 doo, excepted. 



Having erred and gone astray from the way j 

 I ought to have followed, I felt much perplexed 

 and bewildered in trying to find my way out of 

 the maze. (The famous maze at Hampton 

 Court was not a circumstance to it.) The sur- 

 face over which I stumbled was exceedingly 

 rugged. With considerable difficulty I scram- 

 bled and floundered among the matted masset 

 of Clematis hexasepala, a green flowering kind 

 of no particular merit. Clianthus carnea and C. 

 puniceus, two kinds of Glory Peas, having 

 woven their stems wierdly together with the 

 Clematises, seemed to conjointly aid in prevent- 

 ing a passage through. Sitting down to rest, I 

 thought how pretty and interesting they used to 

 appear on the greenhouse stages in England. 

 But oh, that Glory Pea ! How sad the change ! 

 Little did I then dream the time would come 

 when I should be a prisoner in the woods, las- 

 soed round the neck with Clematises, and my 

 legs fettered with Glory Peas ! Escaping from 

 the durance of the ligneous forest warders, I 

 made the best of my way out of Tangle-foot 

 Gully to a more open groiind. 

 Still among the ferns ; in fact it would be difl&cult 

 > to find a yard of surface without more or less of 

 them. They literally cover the face of the 

 country. They flourish on the surface of ex- 

 tinct volcanoes, rocky ledges, deep ravines, al- 

 luvial plains, sandy and stony flats, swamps and 

 morasses, the elevated table-lands, plateaus of 



volcanic scoria, up to the limits of the eternal 

 snow which cap the mountain summits of the 

 Middle Island. 



Marattia elegans is decidedly an elegant and 

 imposing tree fern. Fine specimens will often 

 reach from twenty to thirty feet above Lomaria 

 Frazeri and Hypolepis rugulosa, which spread 

 thickly beneath. Tall and graceful as it is, it is 

 not unusual to see Cyathea dealbata, wave its 

 handsome fronds sixteen feet above. When the 

 writer visited Norfolk Island, years ago, it was 

 then as common as the noted Araucaria ex- 

 celsa, unquestionably the most beautiful of all 

 coniferous trees. It is also found on the Auk- 

 land, Chatham and Macquarie's Island. 



The inviting appearance of a settler's wigwam 

 was in view, and which I found was occupied by 

 a warm-heai'ted Scotchman and his family from 

 " Bonny Dundee." Canny Sandy Macduff, his 

 guid wife, braw laddies and bonnie lassies, made 

 me feel as happy as anj* mortal could. Nt» hos- 

 pitable hearts or willing hands could possibly 

 have done more to make me a welcome guest. 

 The honest farmer had left " the land o' eakes " 

 to grow wool and follow the plough in Australasia. 

 The moist climate, so favorable to crypto- 

 gamic growth, produces immense quantities of 

 ferns, to the detriment of Sandy's broad acres. 

 Pulling up a fern he said " it reminded him of 

 Burns' John Barleycorn, which when put down 

 would come up again." So tenacious are they 

 of life as to survive and grow again after any 

 treatment less than fire. On leaving the cosy 

 sheeling where I spent the night, I in my heart 

 implored benignant Providence to "lay on 

 Macduff" and his kind-hearted wife and family 

 every earthly blessing, and bid them adieu. But 

 I was not to go alone ; young Robbj' volunteered 

 to pilot me through the bush, and see me safe 

 at Mr. Trotter's, an old friend I was in quest of. 

 Our way led through clumps and clusters of 

 Fuchsia excorticata, Pimelia prostrata, and Pitt- 

 osporum cornifolium, interspersed with the om- 

 nipresent ferns. Especially numerous were 

 Polystichum hispidulum, Platyloma rotundifolia 

 and Goniopteris pennigera, the gem of feathered 

 ferns. Emerging from a copse of Dacrydiums, 

 Phyllocladus and Podocarpuses, we reached the 

 open road in front of Trotter's Nursery, Part- 

 ing with good Hobby at the gate, I was soon in- 

 side the rustic cottage and made welcome by the 

 kind and generous people within. But a few 

 years previous Mr. Trotter was the accomplished 

 and excellent gardener at Flitwick House, Bed- 



