268 Transactions. — Botany. 



Mr. John Hay, has raised a large number of young oaks, and distributed 

 them liberally throughout New Zealand. In the summer of 1877 I stripped 

 it for the first time, and got a large quantity of virgin cork, which I did not 

 weigh, the first stripping being of little or no commercial value. In 

 February last I again stripped it, and after drying the bark found the pro- 

 duct to be 70 lbs. weight of good marketable cork, fit for pint corks, as I 

 am informed by Mr. Dutton, the cork-cutter, who was present at the strip- 

 ping, and states it to be worth at least 60s. per cwt. 



It will thus be seen that the trees must be 25 to 27 years old before pro- 

 ducing any return, and then every five years may produce 70 lbs. to 100 lbs. 

 weight of marketable cork. The produce improves in quality by each strip- 

 ping. On comparing the New Zealand product with the imported bark, it 

 is evident that the annual growth of the bark in Auckland is quite equal to 

 that of the import. 



I present herewith to the museum a sheet of the cork of last stripping, 

 3 feet 4 inches by 1 foot 4 inches, which shows the character and quality of 

 the cork, and is, I believe, the first produced in New Zealand. I also pre- 

 sent a section of one of the branches, showing the mode of growth of the 

 virgin cork. 



Art. XXXV. — The Naturalized Plants of the Auckland Provincial District. 

 By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., Curator of the Auckland Museum. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 30th November, 1882.] 

 The wonderful rapidity with which plants alien to the New Zealand Flora 

 have established themselves in this country, the rate at which they have 

 spread through the length and breadth of the land, and the marked effect 

 that they have produced and doubtless will continue to produce on the 

 indigenous vegetation, are facts so patent that they cannot escape the notice 

 of the most incurious person. And it is a remarkable circumstance that 

 most of these plants are of European origin. A stranger landing at any 

 one of the chief ports in the colony might almost fancy himself to be in a 

 corner of the northern hemisphere, if the appearance of the vegetation were 

 his only guide. The sturdy and irrepressible plants that occupy the waste 

 places and roadsides of a European town meet him on his arrival here ; 

 the weeds of the pastures and meadows are mostly the same ; the cultivated 

 fields and gardens are invaded by the same unwelcome and troublesome 

 intruders here as there. And when he comes to carry his observations 

 further into the country, and makes acquaintance with its true flora, still 

 he finds, however far he may extend his travels, that there is no corner, 



