ESSAY 



ON THE 



CULTIVATION AND ACCLIMATIZATION 



OF TREES AND PLANTS. 



Bt a. ludlam. 



\_Written for the New Zealmid ISxhibition, 1865.] 



Ik contributing the following paj^er on the cultivation and acclimatization of 

 trees and plants in New Zealand from different parts of the world, I wish 

 to guard myself from its being supposed that I do so otherwise than as an 

 amateur, with the object of imparting to my fellow- settlers who are 

 interested in gardening such information as I have gained from several 

 years spent in the introduction and cultivation of trees and plants of the 

 more rare and beautiful kinds, and with the hope that many who now look 

 upon the culture of plants of this character as difficult, if not impossible, 

 in this climate, may be induced, after reading this paper, and learning what 

 plants are actually growing in one garden, to make an effort in the same 

 direction. It will be a great point gained in a new country like this, where 

 so many of its inhabitants have a taste for gardening, if they can be 

 induced to substitute for the joresent growth of blue gums, poplars, and 

 willows, plants of a more ornamental, and, I may say, durable character, 

 such as are to be found among the coniferous family. It must not be 

 supposed that I despise for one moment the usefulness of such trees as I 

 have mentioned. Eor forming outside plantations, as a shelter to young 

 trees, they are easily and quickly grov/u, which is a matter of some moment, 

 particularly in an open country, where, perhaps, without such a shelter for 

 a time, it would be difficult to get the more ornamental, and, in some 

 instances, tender varieties to thrive. Such shelters may be made to serve 

 two purposes : 1st, to protect the young trees until they are grown sufficiently 

 strong to bear exposure to the wind ; 2nd, when done with they would be 

 found very useful for firewood ; but care must be exercised in cuttiug away 

 such shelter by degrees, so that the plants that have been sheltered by them 

 are only exposed to the wind from time to time — too great an exposure at 

 one time would likely be very detrimental to their future growth. In 

 forming my garden, I planted the places I intended for groups of trees and 



