162 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



meets with failure. Growing in the forest each tree is sheltered by 

 the dense undergrowth from winds which destroy, and the exterior 

 faces of every bush have thick masses of Flax, Fern, and other sheltering 

 plants, forming an ideal wind-break, which renders the thus enclosed 

 forest land warm and genial to the growth of trees. The thick growth 

 of shrubs growing in the intervals between the sites occupied by the 

 larger standing trees supplies to each trunk trousers and skirts, and to 

 transplant even a small tree from its natural nursery to the bleak outside 

 would be as dangerous a proceeding as it would be to condemn a man 

 in the garments of civilisation to the habits and sumptuary laws of the 

 naked savage. But if the plants are raised from seed, tended and cared 

 for, without undue coddling, hardened gradually to their new surround- 

 ings, careful selection will eventually fit New Zealand trees to take their 

 places as ornaments in the parks and pleasure-grounds of the civilised 

 world. The Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain prides itself 

 with justice in having first grown and distributed over the British 

 Islands and the Continent " the new plants discovered by Reeves, Potts, 

 Dampier, Parks, and Fortune in China and in the East Indies ; by Don on 

 the west coast of Africa, South America, and the West Indies ; by Forbes 

 at the Cape of Good Hope and in the Zambesi region ; by Douglas in North 

 America; and by Hartwig in Central America." It is to be hoped that 

 future years will enable the yet nascent Royal Horticultural Society of 

 New Zealand to report that it has introduced to the admiration of the 

 world many of the noble trees, floriferous shrubs, and charming flowering 

 plants which now waste their sweetness on the desert air, and that its 

 own gardens will show how greatly they have benefited in the process 

 by the collection of exotic trees sent in exchange or otherwise introduced. 

 Such seeds and plants as Cordyline indivisa and Ranunculus Lyallii 

 are eagerly sought by British nurserymen now. It is not necessary for 

 me to mention the list of functions the Home society undertakes ; it 

 is to be found in the reports ; it is sufficient to remark that a New 

 Zealand society would hope in time to undertake them all, although the 

 people will probably have to acquire a much richer life before the culture 

 and hybridisation of Orchids will be called for. Trials of fruits, plants, 

 and seeds at the request of every Fellow and the distribution of surplus 

 plants pro rata according to the amount of annual subscription, however, 

 would be undertaken earlier. 



