FERN FLAT.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 291, 18 September 1886, Page 2

FERN FLAT.

(from our own correspondent). Since you last heard from me we have been treated to more than a sufficient supply of the " weeping tears of heaven." Yes, that liquid element has been the predominant feature here, and a real fine day is about as seldom bestowed upon us as a miser's shilling to.an eleemosynary collection.

On the 21st of this month there will be an equal distribution of time between day and night as it is the season of the vernal equinox, and from that date for three months his lustrous majesty will continue to, increase the length of his diurnal visits in the Southern Hemisphere, so we ought shortly to have better and drier times of it now. 12th.—To-day, for a change, we are favoured with a fair example of spring weather, but I fear that our great universal and hygeian benefactor will soon draw the blinds and curtains and deprive us of his exhilarating warmth for perhaps another week. The season is very unfavourable for farmers here (and by all accounts more so in Nelson) who have to avail themselves of every opportunity that offers itself, in the shape of a fine day, to proceed with the cropping. Fern Fiat is beginning to present quite a pleasing aspect. Nature is bestowing its benefits upon the cattle far more effectually than all our care and attention could do; the grass has now got a fair start in its spring growth, which gives everything around us a more cheerful appearance than we have enjoyed for some months past. The few fruit trees that are here are beginning to display signs of an early yield this summer. It seems a pity that the culture of fruit trees does not receive more attention here, especially as the soil seems so congenial to their growth. A good supply of fresh local fruit would be a treat to many on this part of the Coast, Lyell and Westport, who have as a rule to satisfy themselves with the inferior

qualities obtained from Nelson ami elsewhere. Nelson, " the garden of New Zealand " as it is called, certainly produces splendid fruit, but the superior qualities always find a market in Nelson itself, and rarely find their way down to the Coast. I think fruit may be grown here, if not equal to, very little inferior to that picked from the sunny orchards of Nelson. A fair trial at least would give a fair denial. 13th.—one word before I conclude, in defence ot poetic spring, of late much criticised and watery though useful season. A most beautiful scene, a panorama of per lection illumined by the ethereal green of night, succeeds a day brightened by the shining of the sua on fields of emerald verdure. Come, gentle Spring, we welcome thy return; To gladden hearts, as thou hast done of old I The .lormant flowers for thy fair presence yearn; Thy verdancy is glorious to behold 1