190 Transacllons. — Miscellaneous. 



construction, and contains many thousand acres. It is probable tliat this land 

 is rich in coal and iron, the future working of which would be greatly 

 facilitated by the surface being covered with a class of timber well suited for 

 mining purposes. I have pointed out to the Colonial Secretary that, apart 

 from this prospective advantage, the covering of these bleak hills with forest 

 would enable the Government in a few years to supply by river and road the 

 treeless Upper Waikato country with timber for fencing and other purposes, 

 practically inexhaustible. Though I have chiefly directed attention to the 

 blue gum, that is not because the great order of the Fucal^/j^ti, with its 150 

 varieties, has not many trees suitable for this colony, but that the Eucalyptus 

 globulus is a proved success amongst us. 



I now invite your attention to the great natural order of the Coniferce. 

 As I have already stated, my own experience has taught me that whilst our 

 fern lands will not, from their " sourness," grow the deciduous trees to any 

 advantage unless the land is well cultivated, these same fern lands (if of a 

 sandy or loamy nature) will grow the Coniferce most luxuriantly without any 

 previous tillage. Perhaps I shall best illustrate this by describing the results 

 I have obtained in pine cultivation at Matamata. I shall not weary you 

 with the story of my many attempts and of my many failures before I finally 

 succeeded. I shall shortly tell you what I have done and how I have done it. 

 Four years ago I sowed the seeds of P. i7isignis, P. radiata, P. maritima and 

 other varieties of the Coniferce in my garden at Matamata. I then fenced in 

 the tract of fern land I intended to plant. Burning off the fern I opened out 

 with a single-furrow plough a furrow right and left, thus leaving a double 

 furrow 18 inches wide and 4 inches deep. I then put a subsoil plough into 

 this broad furrow, stirring the subsoil for 9 inches more. I repeated this 

 operation at equal distances of 12 feet over the piece of land I intended to 

 plant. When the pine seedlings were ready to plant (July) I put a man to 

 make holes at 9 feet apart down the centre of each double furrow. Tbis he 

 did with an ordinary IJ inch crowbar, which he held by one end in both 

 hands vertically before him. Dropping the lower end of the crowbar into the 

 subsoil and giving it a circular turn he drew it out, having made a conical 

 hole 9 inches deep and 3 inches wide at top. Stepping on three paces he 

 repeated the operation until he came to the end of the double furrow. lie 

 then returned along the second furrow making holes as before, and so on till 

 holes were made in all the furrows. A dray was then sent to the seed beds, 

 and passing a spade under the end of the fii-st drill a spadcfuU of seedlings 

 was lifted and placed carefully in the bottom of the dray, repeating the 

 operation till the bottom of the dray was covered. The dray was then sent 

 to the ground already prej)ared. Five men were each provided with a pouch 

 made from a 1001b flour bag by cutting down the upper half of the bag. 



