IIORTICI LTUKE IN NEW ZEALAND. 



147 



flowers as Nasturtium and Heliotrope live through the winter in the 

 North Island and in portions of the South Island, flowers which are killed 

 by the earliest frost in England. 



Much has been done by the various city councils towards providing 

 parks and gardens ; but as so much has to be done in developing new 

 districts, funds are not available to enable the work of beautifying the 

 towns to be carried out as in London, Liverpool, and the large towns of the 

 I United Kingdom. In the case of the capital city of New Zealand — 

 Wellington — there is a fine reserve for the Botanical Garden, where are 

 preserved specimens of the native and imported trees. Pleasant walks 

 have been formed, and during the last few years borders have been made 

 and bright-coloured flowers planted after the style found in the London 

 parks. The climate of Wellington does not lend itself generously to the 

 horticulturist ; the violent winds, which at times undo all the patient work 

 of months, are very discouraging. 



In Christchurch, situated in the South Island, we have a far more 

 genial climate, and in addition a deep rich loamy soil, formed from 

 reclaimed swamp land and capable of growing anything. For ages it 

 had grown flax, niggerheads, and other plants peculiar to swamps, and 

 now contains deep deposits of health-giving plant life. Here you will 

 find English flowers and trees growing to an abnormal size : that which 

 is looked upon as a shrub in England grows almost to a tree on the 

 Canterbury Plains. The Common Thorn used for hedges in England 

 develops quickly into a fair-sized tree. Every English plant, in fact, 

 seems to take on a new existence, giant-like in comparison to the parent 

 plant in the old country. In Christchurch much is being done towards 

 beautifying the town, the river-banks having been lately levelled and 

 rounded off; sub-tropical plants, Narcissi and other bulbous flowers, have 

 been freely planted. The public gardens, too, are well looked after, and 

 contain avenues of native and European trees. In Dunedin and Auckland 

 similar public gardens exist, or domains, as they are called in the colony. 

 The Auckland climate being of a more tropical and humid character, all 

 English flowers blossom to perfection. 



Viticulture has been taken up by a large number of settlers, principally 

 in the Auckland district ; and it has been found that land of poor quality 

 produces most excellent crops of grapes, so also does the land that has 

 previously been turned over in search of Kauri gum, which had been 

 looked upon as not worth the attention of the cultivator of the soil. 

 Professor Kirk, of the N.Z. Biological Department, gives the result of an 

 experiment at the Government Experimental Station, Wairangi. It 

 was very poor land, and a few acres were planted. Out of three acres of 

 Vines the Department had obtained in one year 800 gallons of wine. 

 This was the first vintage. The quantity was very large when it was 

 remembered that in addition to testing the localities they were testing 

 the varieties, and the yield was reduced by some of the varieties which 

 were not heavy bearers. The land and the work on it had not cost the 

 Department £100 an acre, so that £300 represented more than the cost 

 from every point of view of those three acres. There were 800 gallons of 

 wine in the cellar, and if that was valued at 5s. a gallon they would get 

 two thirds of the total cost out of the first vintage. In Australia the 



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