1842.] THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. ; 267 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. | for the-fibres of the roots, chilled and torpid in the | Government. It was only the other night _ 
YLLABUS of .a COURSE OF SIX LECTURES | midst of their dreary soil, to obtain food at anything | the Noble Lord, the Secretary for the Colonies, 
THE GROWTH. OF FLARES tote ERO ior VEGE- like the rate demanded by leaves and ripening fruit | stated in the House of Common s that there exita tf 
TATION. By Epwanp Sony, Esq. Jun., F.L.S., M.R.1., &c., | Stimulated at once by a dry atmosphere, and the | enormous quantity of fertile mad 3 in New Zealand. 
Experimental Chemist to the-Horticultural Society. To com: | lioht and warmth of the solar rays. f the | Upon turning to Mr. Bidwill’s pamphlet, we find him 
ceeding Fridays at the satne he ac wand to be-ponsinaed omibids Fare eaaty of seo which was transmitted to the | speaking of the country everywhere towards the south 
; vmode in which Chegany quntroduction. Objects of chemistry | stem, the nature was so bad as to be little suited for its | of the northern island as pape. adapted for culti- 
and mode in bere hog emical inquiries are conducted. Chemical destined purpose. There are some excellent ead vation, with plains suited for rearing herds of wore i 
; i 8 Hon eg mposition. Simple atid Seavtaiate upon this subject by a writer in another colum and os Saag Port Nicholson, ‘te principal settlem 
principles of Plants. Pine natnre of the soil, the food of plants, ur the si nden aD pn A pe ger our ox! ap aa et any — mpa’ ny as ar a ‘ 
an! er, flowers, eld ee oy formation § earnest: the “ is lightened, the drainage is made | dance of excellent land, “ sufficient for t eemploymen 
t pe Ne feesuits. of ie liccay of begatio sit jae. hn not m effectual, a e Vines are replanted. In due time | of any amount of population for 20 years to come,’— 
; ouren: sags s oe big pee denn shan. nape ra a ce ag a we shall scmcuatlios the r roe “ we ewe harbour, oo a atuae Sek the 
a ; u a great extent of very rich land, an admi- 
BH iowean have more than two ects: wince wih ones |. We understand that the place of gardener in the | rable’site for a town,” andeso on. Let it ‘alw ways be 
: Ae en re Conscirom Will not accommodate more than 200 per- al Forcing Garden at Kew, vacant by the death of iar aes that Wick 4 are the oe of a known 
$5 hoon. aa that aumbetaeell bare Cone “distributed. It is tere, | the late Mr een is not filled up ; and that it is er, and that they are confirmed by other known 
: fore hoped that no one will a apply for tickets except with the full | the intention of t ord Steward, ie eae the setholttien 3 “while the bisa pat to them 
ecmeads salrutaeneh sents appointment lies, to five the ver € can | are anonym 
3 21, Regent-street, April 18, 1842. find, be reference to pes considerations This} It is no count true that some parts of New Zealand 
| 4 ig is one of the few’prizes in the lottery o gardeners, are sterile, rugged, and uncultivable. Such, in parti- 
Tie Gardeners’ Chronicle, bi cular, is all en orthern part, especially about the ay 
ae Wa Be Bectc fal and Botenead es ie ae form , a of Islands, the great missionary stati wed n 
-;Uon ofa Horticultural an anical Society at the } of this lace, Mr. Bidwill describes it thus :— 
i SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1842. ‘ at of gton in the New Zealand gq rgd gh | the Bay of Islands it is almost impossible to 
i MEETINGS IN THE ENSUING WEEK harbour of Port Nicholson. From a letter now be-| find a place suitable for the site even of a moderate 
Dheskey: bon 5 7933 Perey erik <8 eck fore us, we learn that the objects of the Bacicty village ; and the country is so rough and broken, that 
q Stuer oy Ol ee, ae are the extension of h pursuits, the im- | ; are no means of going from.one part of the Bay 
: pr 0 t and adaptation to the climate of the co- | t) another by land; and the shores also of the Gulf 
A FoRtNiguT since we mentioned that a short | lony of the vegetables, fruits, and flow already intro- amaki are m tainous even than ae of 
course of Lectures upon the application of Chemistry duced from other countries, and the examination of the Bay. The country around is hilly, and m 
to the arts of cultivation was about to be given by | the vegetation and other natural resources of New to be nothing but a succession of gullies, roadariing! th the , 
Solly, j an advertisement in Zealand. Ano ost 1 tant part of the plan | yce of wheel-carriages of any kind (except pS ox- 
_ _Pape o-da will be seen that the plan of the | is “to encourage among the — carts) almost impracticable. The soil is clay, p 
course is’ settled, and that the Lectures are given gratis | trious habits and a right employment of their leisure by the decomposition of the lavas and other volcanic 
to the Fellows of the Horticultural Society and their hours, by offering annual premiums for the best-cul- | rocks of which the whole of this ealand 
friends exclusively. The great attention which this | tivated cottage gardens.” ‘ithin ten days of the inten- | i, formed. It is bad—that is to say, as bad as any soil 
_ gentleman has paid to the s subject: leads us to Bde! for i Oe jh the society being made known, the can be ina climate so ee and temperate as that of 
avery interesting s series of illustrations. umber of subscribers was 103; we have reason 0 | New Zealand. e, it is true, notwithstanding, 
ZOIERM piscote SUI believe that ‘an ew nd Compan y have dete seen very good vegetables ok in the gardens ; but 
j Tue shrivélling or “shanking” of Grapes is a be mined upon lending the institution their support, both as these gardens are always in the small level spots in 
___ ject upon which few gardeners agree—almost every | by pecuniary assistance and other bin and we doubt | the vicinity of the gullies, their produce is no criterion 
one possessing an opinion of his own as to its pidbabe not that the next ships will ey to the colonists of the general goodness of the soil, as such spots re- 
cause FT ae Zoe of the goodwill of other pattie bodies ve the whole ay pa of the ps pence g hills, and 
- “A few years ace a gardener applied to us for ad- in this for a agricultural purposes would be totally unavailable . 
| vice, Laer that most of his bunches had “« apse We regard this event - most —— evidence | fom shenrenll sice. ‘There aré ae two spots about 
off; a_disease which till that season, had never af- | of the flou urishing condition of those parts of New the Bay where towns could be built—one, the site of 
pres b his Vines. We have never ser apsgares doubt Zealand which have been judiciously colonised — 
that this sasladly is caused by a cold soil, in which the of that we were right when, many m 889; | taining, I shoulil think, a greater n o 
- - roots are compelled to seek their food ; we therefore ad- | we strongly advised a of our ae as had friends i re patter, spot of equal s size in he o univedled aae 
vised him to examine his border, asit was very possible | intending to emi igrate to select those islands as the the other, on the opposite side of the Ba 
that dur: sae the severe winter of 1837-38, the frost | spot where the settler has “the most to hope, and the ane 
_ Inight have destroyed the surface roots, upon which | least to fear.” (See p. 99*, 1841.) Straws, we know, ‘whece he ; 
_ his Vines were most abet ndent for support ; and that | when Sihewa into the air, denote the direction of the try south. of the Thames that the fine land and fine 
the remaining roots, having patibbeated i i climate are to be found. 
cold subsoil, could no. longer keep up that reciprocal | thing. So, in the affairs of natidns, slight teen On the north ene shee Thames is the Bay of Islands, 
action with the stem upon which the welfare of the may be often taken as the best indication of the tru and the new seat-of Sipraeetes. Auckland ; to the 
plant depended, nor supply the leayes and bunches course of events, while graver matters give no idee south is the land of the N y- 
with nutriment suitable for bringing the latter to ma-.| It is not when they are struge?ing with difficulties uckland has, we eat ie aren an extremely wet cli- 
_ turity. We told him that he mi sure that this | and in precarious tenure of property that people think | jyate. and is exposed to wislane gales: to that settle- 
_ was the reason why the stalks of his Grapes withered, | of forming scientific societiesy but when ey are mae then, emigrants aoscia not go, any more than 
_ and the berries, iustesd of obtaining their natural co- tranquil and prosperous—when they are satisfied te thé Blav.of Islands ; for, being in the vicinity of 
i) 
a=] 
3 
lour and flavour, became shrivelled, and remained with their condition, and see no dangers in the ho} the seat of Government, is a r compensation for 
cid. In this opinion, however, he did not coincide 3 | rizon all the disadvantages arising from dangerous storms, 
contending that such could not possibly be the case, We are led to make these remarks for the sake of | 344 ground unfit for agricultural p . But 
his Vine-border bering always hitherto been consi- arding our readers against believing the eyed news- | + attempt to show that the bad ality of the 
dered dry, with a sandy subsoil. He therefore pro- pic Be site upon the subject of New Zea- Bay of Islands and Auckland is a of New 
posed to remove the surface soil a spi t deep, and to re- pepe serts that a township i is under | 7, erally, are to be regarded in precisely 
place it with cow- dang 12 months Our obser- water, pol that people are re-selling their lots and | the same light as men who should ap oly to Great 
vation agian pee proposition, was, cathe it matt abandoning the colony ; a third, thatthe whole country Britain the description of the Shetland Islands. 
: near ———— 
ace ; ob es up into dee eep ullies, inclosing valleys which | can 
ib] 
modify th 
but tard ie oid dep roots aminneaath still be the principal | n 
peg organs ; and that the only effectual course for ind another, that the waase 2 in addition to its pare 
m to take was to drain his border effectuall ness, is alread storms, will soon} Eanrty in the spring of Mae ee I had a stove built in 
“Not, however, finding it convenient to adept this z devastated by the wuaibes natives. Iti isimportant | a small hothouse, which up to the present time has : 
plan, and feeling convinced that his Vine-border could observe that — assertions are all anonymous, and | answered perfectly well, and o oe will be useful, as it 
not be better drained, our correspondent “ followed | no one is answerable for their truth, That they are | requires no attention except once in the morning and the 
his head,” and, as might have been expected, the | either holy false, or that they spPby fo. to te So last thing at night: being’ built under the stages, it is quite 
NEW METHOD + —- AMATEURS’ 
STOV 
j 
shanking continued season after season, untilat last he | of the colony which no well-advised neal 
resolved to follow the advice we at first gave him. | have settled at, i is notorious as all ato] have ae Sout constuction aft. The sor, which Ble of ~ 
pon examining his border, he found ample reason to acquaintance with New Zealand. ae body, A, for containing the fuel, "B the ash-pit, C the re- 
regret that he had felt so well satisfied with its condi- As an example of the misrepresentations that we _— : 
n i i 
: a. inches diameter, and built 
bs of being light, warm, and dry, it was | allude to, take the statement since copied aed tho Kiaeace cr oie wal %, are t-iron pla 
found to consist of arich, adk as cold and | into all the papers, that the New Zealand Com covering the whole opening of the body of the stove (it 
retentive of moisture as it well could be; in fact, to | obtains 60/. profit upon every 80/. they receive for | jies in a rebate and is bedded in sand, with sufficient space 
use the nea own expression, “ it Pe out as solid — a ae the fact is, that by the sag ing ’S | to allow for expansion), and having a cial or Psp ¥, 
a f cheese.” No roots were found near the d agreement with the late ins pate ‘Or the | standing upon it, which neck passes through stone 
surface of the border, exce ting a few viek had shot Chau Lord John Russell, they cann more than | shelf, constituting the the stages all round the 
a 
a 
yi 
i=) 
= 
ot get more of ding: 
out from the necks of the Vines into some moss with | one of land fi 17. expended on emigration, | house: to this neck is attached a copper ring, G, G, 
ey h Te’ dint Wigiply n that they tea = Be asitak an seid ee their | which i securely fitted to it; a flanch one ; ye 
of food had, therefore, been derived entirely from the pata & in the shape of a small discount allowed them | jects from this, and t 
deeper roots, ‘ese OF which were found 44 feet be- isis ssa a 
neath the surf: assert that all the land in New | °f the aperture in Dae 
The cause cane shanking in this case was, we conceive, | Zealand is oaks uncultiva ible. 
precisely what w ally stated, and what, we re- Against this we have the testimony of travellers who ie 
ose. it ie oe neal all if not alt ston eet oan have visited the country ;—of the H 
whose word is above suspicion ; 
Oe =o: aut eae beyond th the Trek et sun’s sit whom we know person ditty” to be a 
an of the soil in which they | what *Y no at important, a disinterested Majesty’ 
grew, instead of rieipenet ng nearly with the atmo-| and of the responsible officers of Her Maj 
correspo 
of the house, must have been m y degr aor A 
owes Under der such a i it weet Fes ed SE | gehen Coco er | 
. 
: i 
4 | | 
3 Se 
