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Art, XXXI. — On the Cultivation of some SiJecies of Native Trees and Shrubs. 



By T. H. Potts and W. Gray. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, September 17, 1870.] 



Many of the writers and travellers who have described the physical appear- 

 ance and natui-al scenery of New Zealand, have dwelt with more or less 

 enthusiasm on the remarkable character of the beauty of our native forests, 

 on the noble trees, amongst which the Coniferce occupy so distinguished a 

 position, and the ever-varying foliage of the luxuriant shrubs, of which so 

 many species ai'e peculiar to these Islands. Although a century has elapsed 

 since that epoch, at which a far from insignificant portion of the flora of this 

 country became known to botanists, and notwithstarxding that the footsteps of 

 Banks and Solander have been followed at intervals by many men of science, 

 it may be considered a matter of surprise that so little has been made known 

 of the habits of many genera, and that so few persons have devoted much time 

 and attention to their cultivation. That this neglect of our most interesting 

 indigenous plants is a matter of regret, few of those will be disposed to ques- 

 tion who have had opportunities of becoming personally acquainted with the 

 present condition of many districts, and who cannot fail to have reflected on 

 the destructive results to our native flora which the rapid settlement of the 

 country is daily effecting. The constantly recurring bush fires, the means by 

 which the tenant of crown lands seeks to improve the condition and quality 

 of the grasses for the depasturing of his stock, and the wasteful management 

 of the once magnificently timbered forests, threaten at no distant period the 

 almost entire destruction of many interesting and valuable species, before time 

 has been afforded to ascertain their real position as a portion of the economical 

 resources of the country. In the Middle Island, the localisation of the bushes 

 and shrub-covered areas, may have exercised a deterring influence, not without 

 its effects on the newly formed shrubberies and plantations of the settler. 



The object of this paper is simply to draw attention to the cultivation of 

 native plants, and to impart, very briefly, such information as may have been 

 acquired from the experience of several years, during which many species have 

 been cultivated. One of the chief reasons which has induced the communica- 

 tion of these observations, is the knowledge of the fact that many persons 

 show almost a prejudice against planting native shrubs, from the supposed 

 difiiculty attending their successful treatment. 



That the efforts of some beginners have been marked by failure, is not 

 altogether a matter for surprise ; often with the hope of making a show at 

 once, specimens are selected from the bush which are too large, and too old, to 

 be safely removed ; in too many cases the planter contents himself with 

 teai-ing ixp the young and tender seedlings from the moist shelter of the bushy 



