4 
took it for granted that the Government had no desire to trouble with 
the preparation of plates of a character capable of being undertaken by 
an enterprising publisher, and treated in a sufficiently popular manner to 
command a remunerative sale, or, in other words, that there was no inten- 
tion of producing a series of drawings selected mainly on account of the 
beauty and attractiveness of the plants portrayed. I assumed that the true 
object of the work was to issue plates of an educational character, so 
selected as to present an accurate and comprehensive idea of the main 
features of the flora, and so designed and executed as to be of real use 
in the study and identification of the plants of the Dominion. Further- 
more, as the work would be issued under the auspices of the Government 
of the Dominion, it was felt that there would be no necessity to sacrifice 
scientific accuracy and excellence of design for the sake of cheap production. 
Starting with these considerations as a guide, the first point to deter- 
mine was the number of plates required to properly illustrate the flora. 
A complete set of illustrations, similar, for instance, to those of Sowerby’s 
“English Botany,” where every known species is figured, was obviously 
out of the question. The number of flowering-plants and ferns at pre- 
sent known in New Zealand is over sixteen hundred. To figure the whole 
of these would be the work of very many years, and would cost many 
thousands of pounds. All that could be aimed at, and all that was reallv 
necessary, was a selection of about two hundred and fifty plates. This 
number permits all the important genera to be represented, and gives a 
sufficient idea of the scope and character of the flora. 
With respect to the important question as to whether the illustrations 
should be original—that is, prepared expressly for the work—or whether 
they should be reproductions of existing plates, I have already mentioned 
the chief objection to the use of the latter class in the fact that it is not 
sufficiently varied to give an adequate representation of the whole of the 
flora. A considerable proportion of the plates could not be used; many 
new plates would be required to fill up the blanks; and the two classes 
of plates—old and new—would not form a harmonious whole. Further, it 
appeared to me that a series of botanical drawings prepared under the 
auspices and at the expense of the Government of the Dominion should 
add to our knowledge of the flora, or, in other words, should be something 
more than reproductions of plates issued fifty or sixty years ago, or even 
more, and which had fully served their purpose. I had therefore no hesi- 
tation in advising that the plates should be specially drawn for the work. 
The number of plates and their character having been determined upon 
in accordance with the above recommendations, the next point to attend 
to was whom to appoint to draw the plates. It would have been a satis- 
faction, both to the Government and myself, if there had been some com- 
petent botanical artist resident in New Zealand to whom the work could 
have been entrusted, but no person possessing the necessary qualifications 
could be found. Nor is this at all surprising, for botanical drawing, 
together with a knowledge of how to prepare the microscopical analyses 
required, is an art in itself; and the number of good botanical artists in 
England even is small. I was therefore compelled to seek for a competent 
person outside the Dominion, and after some negotiation it was decided 
to offer the work to Miss Matilda Smith, of the Royal Herbarium, Kew. 
Miss Smith’s capabilities are widely known among botanists; but as a 
matter of information to the general reader it is well to say that since 
1880 she has been sole artist for the “ Botanical Magazine ” and “ Icones Plan- 
tarum”; while among the numerous works illustrated by her it will be 
sufficient. to mention the “Botany of the Challenger Expedition,” Balfour's 
