My New Zealand Garden 53 



down among the fronds ! What a sight ! I would, 

 of course, encourage our beautiful white native 

 Clematis, but ugly things I would replace with 

 the beautiful. What an inexhaustible soil and sub- 

 soil they would revel in, formed of the fallen trees 

 and leaves of generations ! Then a Tree-fern for 

 a summer-house, or two or three together, perhaps. 

 You could have your own Vine and Fig-tree to sit 

 under as well, but that would be a place of penance 

 compared with all this. I would not be particular 

 about the winding of the paths as long as they led 

 to one of these wondrous sights. I would edge 

 them with Tree-fern stems, which last so well that 

 even pigsties are paved with them sometimes. 

 Whenever I enter the Bush I am seized with 

 a yearning to tidy it up to remove old trees, 

 which have fallen upon healthy ones, compel- 

 ling them to support the old dying cripples, to the 

 detriment of their own appearance. Then other 

 things are being smothered or strangled by ugly, 

 worthless Lawyers and Supplejacks. Lawyers are 

 prickly subjects, from which it is very difficult to 

 extricate one's self. The Supplejacks hang about 

 the trees like ropes, and either trip you up or 

 catch your head. But they have a use, as they 

 furnish the world with millions of walking-sticks. 



I have never been far into dense Bush, nor do 

 I wish to, for even when picnicking on its skirts 

 I am terribly nervous if any of my party get 



