August  27,  1903. 
193 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  ASD  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
town,  where  the  wealth  and  beauty  of  the  town  could  have  dis¬ 
ported  themselves  between  the  morning  and  evening  services 
such  as  is  to  be  seen  in  the  London  Park  Lane.  The  newspaper 
man  made  out  a  good  case  of  an  ensured  annual  income  of  £1,800 
a  year,  and  the  newspaper  reporters  being  always-  on  the  track  of 
the  veteran  traveller,  several  stirring  articles  were  written,  but 
the  pride  of  admitted  poverty  appeared  too  strong.  By  Mr.  Barr’s 
suggestions,  a  lonely  and  rough  road  would  have  been  quite 
transformed,  and  a  fine,  broad  promenade  along  the  banks  of  the 
gentle  flowing  Avon  would  have  been  secured.  The  popularity 
of  the  cycle  is  as  great  in  Ghristchurch  as  elsewhere,  and  con¬ 
tinual  friction  existed  between  them  and  the  park  authorities. 
The  cyclist,  however,  held  his  own,  and  was  wont  to  make  short 
cuts  through  the  reserve;  and  there,  again,  the  want  of  money 
prevented  the  making  of  proper  carriage  drives  and  cycle  paths. 
Tlie  agitation  having  been  set  agoing  later  visitors  may  yet  see 
Christchurch  rise  to  its  opportunities. 
Unfortunately,  throughout  New-  Zealand,  a  great  many 
upright  (Lombardy)  Poplars  have  been  planted,  and  being 
absolutely  out  of  harmony  with  the  native  plants,  Mr.  Barr  stated 
that  he  took  every  opportunity  to  decry  them.  The  reason 
assigned,  however,  was  that  the  plants  of  New  Zealand  are  all 
evergreen,  and  it  was  a  relief  to  the  eyes  to  see  the  autumn  tints 
of  the  Poplars.  But  Mr.  Barr  pointed  out  that  there  were  other 
Poplars  more  in  harmony  with  their  own  trees,  and  other  forms 
of  deciduous  trees  and  shrubs  that  would  give  them  the  autumn 
tints  and  be  beautiful.  It  may  be  mentioned  in  passing  that 
Christchurch  is  a  famous  educational  centre. 
Turning  now  to  Dunedin,  this  city  was  .settled  by  the  Scottish 
Church,  for  Presbyterians  (con.sisted  mainly  of  emigrants  with 
small  means),  but  there  you  may  find  the  latest  forms  of  theology, 
represented  from  America  and  London.  The  population  of 
Dunedin  is  principally  Scottish,  and  the  town  is  the  healthy, 
wealthy,  and  the  most  enterprising  of  the  towns  in  New-  Zealand. 
When  the  gold  seekers  first  arrived,  the  inhabitants  refused  to 
sell  them  food,  objecting  to  have  the  riff-raff  of  Europe  and 
Australia  quartered  upon  tliem  ;  but  when  the  nuggets  began  to 
circulate,  the  prospectors  became  welcome  guests!  Up  to  the 
present  time  the  matrix  of  the  gold,  so  to  .speak,  has  hot  been  dis¬ 
covered,  but  dredging  the  rivers  and  the  lands  over  which  water 
once  had  flowed  forms  remunerative  employment  for  thousands. 
The  gold-dredging  machine  is  a  New  Zealand  invention,  and  has 
been  exported  to  all  countries  of  the  world  where  “  the  yellow 
metal”  is  to  be  found  in  rivers. 
While  at  Dunedin,  in  the  month  of  April  or  early  in  May,  Mr. 
Barr  found  it  so  cold  that  he  had  to  have  a  winter  suit  made. 
Our  friend  remarked  that  it  was  somewhat  .singular  that  the 
Scotch  should  have  settled  in  the  colder,  and  the  English  in  the 
warmer  districts.  He  draws  attention  to  the  settlement  of 
America  to  find  a  parallel.  The  Spaniards  settled  in  the  south¬ 
western  parts,  where  the  climate  is  not  unlike  that  of  Andalusia 
(Spain),  while  the  “  May  Flower  ”  with  its  freight  landed 
in  the  eastern  regions,  which  are  in  all  respects'  English 
in  their  scenery,  the  only  difference  being  in  the  native  races  that 
met  them  on  landing.  Had  the  British  landed  in  the  south¬ 
western  parts,  they  w-ould  have  found  it  too  hot ;  while  the  ea.st 
w-ould  have  been  quite  untenable  from  cold,  to  the  Spaniards. 
Dunedin  is  very  hilly.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  amateur  enter¬ 
prise  in  planting  on  the  surrounding  hills  the  reserves,  which  are 
fairly  extensive.  Mr.  A.  Bathgate,  a  solicitor,  is  the  moving 
amateur  spirit  in  this  enterprise,  and  gives  up  a  good  deal  of 
time  to  pushing  forward  the  planting  of  trees  and  shrubs.  Their 
public  gardening  is,  however,  very  backward,  and  in  the  company 
with  the  Mayor,  who  was  anxious  during  his  term  of  office  to  do 
something  to  mark  his  mayoralty,  Mr.  Barr  went  over  their 
public  gardens,  and  suggested  a  few  alterations  of  pressing  impor¬ 
tance.  But  the  Mayor  was  anxious  to  confine  his  benevolence 
to  a  new  entrance  gate,  which,  as  the  itinerant  told  him,  would 
spoil  the  place,  unless  entirely  relaid  out,  and  this  was  by  no 
means  needed.  What  was  wanted  was  a  continuation  of  the 
shrubbery  to  the  river  bed,  the  improving  of  the  river  bank, 
getting  rid  of  an  old  tumbledown  gardener’s  hou.se  shutting  out 
the  glass  structure  where  summer  bedding  plants  were  raised, 
widening  and  extending  a  flower  border,  bringing  into  prominence 
a  glass-covered  rockery,  and  locking  up  tlie  gates  at  sundown. 
Auckland,  well  northward  in  North  Island,  possesses  some  fine 
park  lands,  those  at  Mount  Ediu  being  under  charge  of  Mr.  Goldie, 
who  formerly  sent  large  consignments  of  Tree  Ferns  to  B.  S. 
Williams. 
Referring  to  the  warm  lake  region  of  New  Zealand  (Rotarudos), 
Mr.  Barr  considered  it  quite  as  interesting  as  the  Yellowstone 
Park  in  America.  It  is  true  there  is  not  the  same  grandeur  as  can 
be  seen  in  the  Yellowstone  Park,  but  the  mud  and  water  geysers, 
the  lakes  and  springs,  are  all  of  great  interest.  Some  of  these 
hot-spring  regions  are  in  the  hands  of  Maoris,  who  charge  a  heavy 
rate  for  allowing  the  freedom  of  inspection.  Near  Auckland  were 
the  pink  and  white  terraces  which  remained  the  w-onder  of  the 
world,  until  they  were  destroyed  .some  years  back  by  a  volcanic 
eruption,  wbich  carried  off  the  entire  top  of  the  hill,  cau.sing  the 
lakes  to  dry  up  and  killing  a  large  number  of  Maoris.  Auckland 
has  a  remarkably  fine  collection  of  South  Sea  Island  relics. 
^  A  ride  towards  Pepperikee  is  wonderfully  rich  in  foliage. 
IjiGre  you  may  see  Tree  Ferns  with  their  large  spreading  fronds, 
loft  or  18ft  long,  growing  as  solitary  specimens  along  the  drive. 
\\  anganoie  River  extends  a  long  distance  above  Pepperikee,  bnt 
can  only  be  explored  by  canoeing:  and  the  beauty  of  its  trees  and 
their  foliage  is  indescribable.  The  river,  for  .some  considerable 
distance  beloAv  Pepperikee  is  well  clothed,  and  there  may  be  seen 
the  native  Palm  arising  above  the  scrub.  The  lower  reaches  of 
the  river  are  monotonous  on  account  of  the  vegetation  having 
been  destroyed.  Wanganoie  is  a  town  of  some  pretensions,  but 
is  a  quiet  place  with  a  park  and  plea.sure  gardens. 
On  the  way  to  New  Plymouth,  Mr.  Barr  spent  a  few  days  with 
a  farmer  to  see  the  country,  which  is  famed  as  a  butter  producing 
area.  New  Zealanders  declare  that  they  can  supply  better  butter 
than  the  Dutch.  I'he  land  here  is  admirably  adapted  for  the  pur¬ 
pose,  and  dairy  farming  is  thriving. 
New  Plymouth  is  a  nice  little  town,  substantial  inside,  on 
account  of  the  old  Maori  pa  (fort)  Avhich  still  remains  in  its 
original  condition,  and  to  see  what  a  Maori  fort  was  like  Mr.  Barr 
made  his  visit  to  this  district.  He  chanced  to  be  there  when  the 
j  news  of  the  relief  of  Mafeking  was  stirring  the  British  race.  At 
one  of  the  centres  where  a  demon.stration  was  occurring,  an  Iri.sh- 
man,  “  who  evidently  had  not  kissed  the  Blarney  Stone,”. — his 
oration  was  .so  faulty — tried  to  vent  the  popular  feeling  in 
relief,  but  the  popidace  growing  impatient,  they  hauled  him  down 
and  made  another  citizen  speak  in  his  place !  They  finished  with 
three  cheers,  and  the  singing  of  “  God  Save  the  Queen.” 
Providing  Underground  Rain-water  Tanks. 
One  thing  that  all  skilful  horticulturists  are  agreed  on  is  the 
great  superiority  of  rain  water  to  well  water  for  application  to 
the  roots  and  overhead  of  cultivated  trees  and  plants,  especially 
those  grown  under  glass.  Therefore,  underground  tanks  should 
be  made  in  all  glass  houses  for  the  reception  of  rain  falling  on  the 
roof  glass,  and  conveyed  thither  by  inlet  pipes  connected  with  the 
overhead-glass  shooting  or  valley  gutter,  as  the  case  may  be. 
In  the  case  of  lean-to  houses  or  three-quarter  spans,  the  soft- 
water  tank  should  be  excavated  under  the  pathway  at  the  back. 
The  sides  and  ends  of  the  individual  tanks  should  be  cut  evenly 
down  and  on  the  batter,  so  that  the  4^in.  brick  wall  may  be  built 
up  close  against  solid  earth  from  bottom  to  top.  A  “  dip-hole,” 
about  2ft  square  and  20in  deep  below  the  bottom  of  the  tank 
(which  should  slope  gently  in  the  direction  of  the  said  dip-hole),, 
should  be  provided  in  making  the  tanks. 
This  will  allow  a  full  can  or  bucket  of  water  to  be  extracted 
from  the  tank  as  long  as  the  bottom  is  covered  with  the  crystal 
fluid.  A  tank  21ft  long,  4jft  deep,  with  an  average  width  of 
S^ft  (inside  measurements),  will  hold  about  2,000gals  of  rain 
water.  A  4^in  tie-wall  should  be  built  across  the  middle  of  the 
tank,  leaving  a  space  of  4J-in  from  the  floor-line  in  the  centre  of 
division  wall,  to  enable  the  water  to  rise  in  both  divisions  at  the 
same  time. 
The  top  course  of  brickwork  should  be  built  in  cement,  and 
the  whole  surface  of  work  should  be  afterwards  faced  with  com¬ 
post,  consisting  one  part  of  cement  and  three  of  sharp  sand.  In 
excavating  for  a  tank  of  the  dimensions  given  above  when  built, 
9in  more  should  be  added  to  the  length  and  width,  and  4^in  to 
the  depth.  A  few  short  lengths  of  oak,  4in  by  3in.  placed  across 
the  tank  at  intervals  of  about  3ft,  will  afford  ample  support  for 
the  trellis  pathway  to  rest  on. 
Each  block  of  span-roofed  houses  should  have  two  tanks  of 
the  description  indicated  run  right  across  the  .several  houses  con¬ 
stituting  the  block — one  at  the  bottom  and  one  half-way  up  the 
length — a  .short  length  of  lead  pipe,  say,  Gin  long,  2iu  or  3in  in 
diameter,  with  a  flange  on  top,  being  inserted  in  the  gutter- 
valley  immediately  over  the  respective  tanks,  to  convey  the  rain 
water  falling  on  the  glass  roofs  therein.  It  rvould  be  money  well 
spent  to  make  a  pond  or  other  kind  of  sunken  reservoir,  to  take 
the  overflow  water  from  these  tanks  during  the  autumn,  winter, 
and  early  spring  months,  thereby  providing  a  good  supply  to  fall 
back  on  in  time  of  need — i.e.,  when  a  spell  of  dry  weather  has 
set  in. 
Still  better,  if  a  galvanised  iron  tank,  cai)able  of  holding 
l.OOOgals  of  water,  is  elevated,  on  a  substantial  frame-work,  to 
the  level  of  the  ridge  of  houses  at  the  highest  end,  and  the  water 
pumped  up  into  it  by  a  small  gas  or  oil  engine,  or  windmill,  con¬ 
necting  the  elevated  cistern  with  the  several  houses  by  means  of 
gas  tubing,  standpipes,  and  a  length  of  ho.se,  thus  securing  a 
boon  that  cannot  be  too  highly  valued  in  forcing-hou.ses — namely, 
a  supply  of  sun-warmed  rain  water  laid  on  in  readine,ss  for  use 
through  the  hose  when  required. — (From  Ward’s  “Book  of  the 
Peach.”) 
