211 



improved should successful forests be established. Froni the 

 time when the earliest emigrants entered the country the 

 -absence of trees appears to have made the greatest impression 

 upon newcomers, and from the middle of last century successive 

 Governors and a few of the more progressive settlers have con- 

 sidered the possibility of establishing trees either for ornament 

 or profit. Planting schemes, usually of a very half-hearted 

 character, have been 'suggested from time to time, but, whether 

 from apathy, lack of general, sympathy, or the disinclination to 

 risk money on a project that could only be considered in the 

 light of an experiment, they have not materialised, and the 

 introduction of young trees or tree seeds has not gone beyond 

 the individual efforts of a few settlers and a few attempts by- 

 Government officials to procure trees and shrubs for the garden 

 at Government House. Unfortunately in the few efforts that 

 have been made the persons interested have not possessed 

 sufficient technical knowledge to enable them to give the young 

 trees the special attention necessary to enable them to over- 

 come the unfavourable conditions which prevail, neither have 

 they made proper reports upon the behaviour of the various 

 species tried, therefore the position has not altered from what 

 it was when Col. Moody, the first Lieut. -Governor of the Islands, 

 took office in 1842. 



During that year the Ross Expedition wintered in the Islands 



and the Governor apparently became interested in plant life 



partly through the enthusiasm of Dr. (Sir Joseph) Hooker, 



one of the officers of the expedition. The first information we 



possess of trees and shrubs being introduced into the Islands 



is a ^despatch from Governor Moody to Lord Stanley at the 



Colonial Office, dated 16th November, 1842, advising him that the 



Antarctic Expedition (Captain Ross) returning from St. Martin's 



Cove, Cape Horn, brought to the Colony 700 young trees, chiefly 



winter barks, beeches, and holly-leaved berberies, &c, and "that 



the trees were immediately planted with hopes that they might 



succeed. We know nothing of the fate of those trees save that 



on 1st February, 1844, the Governor, in a letter to Sir "William 



Hooker, reported that the elder trees and the Antarctic beeches 



in the graveyard were doing well. 



The next information we have of trees and shrubs being sent 

 to the Falklands is a list of plants forwarded from E>w on 

 27th December, 1848. The plants were: — Arbutus Unedo, 

 Aucuba japonica, Berberis Aqui folium, Betula alba 2, Bu.rus 

 sempervirens 2, Colutea arborescent* Crataegus orientalis, C. 

 Oxyacaniha, Cytisus albus, C. scovarius 2, Elaeagnus orientalis 

 2, Euonymus japonicus, Fagus sylvatica, Garrya elliptica, 

 Hedera Helix, Ilippophae salicifolia 2, Ilex A qui folium, 

 Laburnum vulgare, Ligustrum vulgare, Picea alba, Pinus 

 Laricio 2, P. wontana var. Mughus 2, P. Pinaster 2, P. 

 rigida2, P. sylvestris 4, Platanns? \Uhnus"\ campestris, Platanus 

 orientalis, Prunus Lauroeerasus, P. lusitanica, Quercus peduncu- 

 lata, Q. sessili flora, Q. sp., Ribes alpinum 2, R, aureum, R. 

 Menziesii, R. nigrum 2, R. sanguineum, Rosa sp., Salts Caprea, 



* Information respecting the Falkland Islands. Chas. Knight, 1843. 





