496 Transactions. — Botany. 



check to the advance of the fire and the required shelter 

 would be provided. At any rate, the experiment is well worth 

 trying. In the case of reserves chosen with due regard to 

 topographical and chmatic conditions the case is more hope- 

 ful. On some of our mountainous promontories and wooded 

 islands there should be no difficulty, at a slight expense for 

 fencing and supervision, in preserving for posterity lai'ge areas 

 of forest of unsurpassed scenic beauty and of great economic 

 value. 



Eestoration might also be hopefully attempted under 

 similar conditions. Experiments in our parks and gardens 

 show that most, if not all, of the native trees will grow freely 

 under cultivation. But such an artificial procedure need not 

 generally be taken. Nature makes a brave effort to reclothe 

 the hills and gullies of New Zealand in her verdant mantle, 

 and if let alone would bring her work to completion. Under 

 favourable circumstances seedling trees soon make their ap- 

 pearance, and if protected from injury would in due time 

 attain to maturity. Of course, anything like a real restoration 

 of the original bush is out of the question, but the "second 

 growth " has a beauty of its own which is by no means to be 

 despised. This natural attempt at reafforesting may be seen 

 on a large scale in many parts of the colony, especially in 

 elevated and damp situations, such as the steep hills and 

 gullies of the Northern Peninsula, the ranges about Coro- 

 mandel and Mercury Bay, and the upland portions of the 

 Nelson Province ; and it is interesting to notice that every- 

 where the trees which are characteristic of the locality are 

 not long in making their appearance. 



Nothing, however, either in the way of prevention or 

 restoration can be hoped for without a radical change in 

 public opinion, and a general improvement in public taste. So 

 long as the farmer persists in cutting down the native growth 

 that is at once an ornament to his property and a shelter 

 to his stock, in order to make room for a row of Cujiressus 

 macrocarpa or Pinus insignis, or so long as the gum-digger 

 and bush-larrikin are allowed to put a match into anything 

 that will burn, there is not much hope for either prevention 

 or restoration. Year by year the destruction will continue, 

 and the rate of the disappearance of the New Zealand bush 

 will be proportionately accelerated as population increases and 

 settlement spreads abroad. 



