280 TUTIRA 



the daisy is still, indeed, almost unknown outside its original spot of 

 deposition the Home Paddock. "Whilst still a rare weed elsewhere 

 in the province, I remember its absence in the 'eighties from the 

 beautiful tennis lawns of southern Hawke's Bay, it was plentiful near 

 the original Tangoio wool-shed and drafting-yards. The daisy reached 

 Tutira in the following way : During the 'eighties our station stores 

 were drayed to the Tangoio wool-shed, and there deposited until such 

 time as called for by the pack- team, which was penned in one of 

 the yards, the horses being led forth and loaded one by one. Easily 

 balanced cargo, such as flour and sugar, was disposed of first, odds and 

 ends, small parcels, &c., were reserved for the "last" horse, an imper- 

 turbable beast treating shouts and stock-whip crackings alike with 

 bovine indifference. These odds and ends were not infrequently placed 

 in sacks, slung directly from the iron hooks of the pack-saddles, and 

 therefore, if properly balanced and firmly fixed with surcingle, secure 

 from the chances and changes of jostle, jog, trot and canter, over miles 

 of execrable going. On the particular occasion to which I refer, the 

 load of this " last" horse was badly balanced. To right the equilibrium 

 I remember hastily spading up two or three divots from the turf of 

 the paddock and flinging them as ballast into the mouth of the lighter 

 sack. Upon arrival at Tutira its contents, parcels and earth alike, 

 were tipped on to the ground nearly opposite the front gate of our 

 newly-finished cottage, and there the daisy first appeared on Tutira. 

 Though, however, thus established, the increase of the plant was extra- 

 ordinarily, exceptionally slow. It seemed as though the daisy, almost 

 alone among aliens, had been unable to devise methods of dissemination, 

 or perhaps that the plants which ultimately flourished were variants 

 from the type, more exactly suited to novel environment. Fully fifteen 

 years passed before the few acres about the house were overrun ; then 

 the multitude of expanded blossoms was a marvel ; nowhere else have 

 I seen such an exuberance of bloom : in spring sunshine the paddock 

 lav white as if under snow. 



9 



Prickly burr (Accena ovina) was well established in the paddocks 

 near the wool-shed prior to my time. Although sheep will crop the 

 leaves and tender seed-stems, they are left untouched when tough and 

 stiff. It is likely, therefore, that this very early arrival may have 

 been carried up in the wool of early imported merino sheep. 



