HORTICULTURAL NOTES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 455, 19 March 1890, Page 3

HORTICULTURAL NOTES.

A SOUTHERN TOUR. (By Uortus.) We ’ started from New Plymouth about eight o’clock in the morning, and after proceeding a few mile 3 we fairly got into what might be called the bush country.-. All along the immediate vicinity of the railway there are a considerable number of clearings, but as the settlers have recently tired the old stumps and logs, the atmosphere was heavily charged with smoke, which precluded me from getting an extensive view of the country. What we did see seemed to be of good quality, and the grass seemed to hold much better at this season than it usually doe 3 around Auckland. Being a bush country, there was very little cropping going on, and whore there were little patches crops seemed to be very heavy. After leaving Norman by, .we traversed a very fine country till we arrived at Hawera, where the plains stretched away on either side, and the soil seemed to be of first-class quality. At this station we were allowed one hour and a-half, so .1 took a walk through the village, which is one of some considerable size. In the different gardens where there were crops of vegetables they really looked splendid. From Hawera to l’atea'the soil did not seem to be of such good grazing country. Only being able to see a few homesteads, I came to the conclusion that the bulk of the country here must bo in the possession of the sheep kings. FROM PATKA TO WHENUAKURA

the soil was somewhat similar to the last stretch of country, only with more frequent patches of good soil in the hollows and fiats. On the seaward side of the line we got a glimpse of the sea and sand hills. It was curious to watcli the movements of the sand. Sometimes it was driven up the hollows, and sometimes over the hills, leaving the hollows entirely free; and sometimes the hills would assume the appearance of a dome, and at other times they would resemble a sharp peak. In dry weather the sand is ever in motion ; the surface gets dry, a slight gust of wind comes, and then the sand is lifted a short distance. As it moves over the sea, it sometimes resembles a passing squall. This moving sand is one of the great difficulties the West Coast settlers have to deal with, as it annually encroaches and covers much good land, and lie who may devise some means to entirely stop its progress will be a benefactor to thousands. From Whenuakura I proceeded to WAVERLKY. As we travel through this district the soil greatly improves, but still, by the absence of households, the country would seem to be in possession of the wool kings. The ground seemed to be well stocked with sheep and cattle. There was also a considerable portion of the country under crop, principally of turnips, oats, and potatoes, which were doing very well. I supposed they were principally grown for winter feed for stock. FROM WAVERLEY TO MOMOIIAKE the soil seemed to be of fairly good quality, and, as far as the eye could reach, it appeared to be easily workable with plough, but not much broken country. There was some considerable portion in crop. I may here remind you that the dull, hazy state of the atmosphere still precluded us from seeing far. Throughout the whole journey I never got a peep of Mount Egmont, at which I was much disappointed. The same characteristics of the soil presented themselves as we passed through onward, with only a little improvement until we came to waitotara. This station is"situated in a pretty little valley of a few miles in length. The soil in the valley is seemingly of first-class quality. The surrounding hills looked very picturesque, but the soil on them is of poor quality. After leaving Waitotara we came to more bleak sandhills on bho seaward side. The hill on the land side was also of a poor, hungry character. After attaining the higher ground the soil on the land side improved considerably, and as we proceeded we seemed bo be overlooking an immense tract of splendid country, a considerable of which had been under grain and the balance in grass. This good country appeared to extend as far as the eve could reach past Nukumai’a and on to Okehu, and there was still the same unbroken stretch of splendid country before us on both sides of the railway, with just a little broken land which the railway passed through, on until we came to a pretty heavy decline and a heavy incline, after which we reached ■ . kai-iwi, which is situated in a valley of not great extent. : This little township is the centre of a profitable Trade. It is surrounded by hills of considerable height, and the soil seems: to be of very poor quality. After leaving this station we enter a long gorge, the name of which I was told was “Goat Valley,” and from its appearance the name would seem to be very appropriate, for jt would be difficult for oven a goat to obtain a living fi’om the hill sides. After travelling up this valley, we entered a tunnel and passed through to another gorge,_ wider and with better grazing soil on the sides of the hills overlooking it. There were homesteads in view here, qnd it would seem that the sheep rings rule this part of the country. Near the end of this valley we cut through a low range of hills, and again came in contact with, splendid soil. Here there is a station (Brunswick), fi’om whigh we proceeded down to a finffiy-wooded gully to Aran ono, situated just at the end of the gully. The soil here is very rich, and carries first-class grass. From Aranono we described about three parts of a circle around WANGANUI. _ •' ... This is a very pretty township of considerable pretensions, situated on theriverof that name. The whole township is situated on a flat of considerable size, a portion being built on sandy .soil,: and the other portion on rich alluvial and swamp lands, on which many of' the householders have established very pretty gardens. There are two public gardens established in the centre of the town. Both are fenced ; bub as the soil is simply two large sandhills, very little in the way of cultivation or of oranmentation lias been done. Six years ago these two sandhills were a massif moving sand ; now the authorities have succeeded in almost binding the sand so that it does nob blow about much. The plant principally U9ed for this purpose. is one of the mesembryahthenum, which'in time spreads over the’whole and keeps the surface of the sand from breaking. They have also managed tb establish a considerable number of pine trees, which in a few, years will give plenty of cover. On thb highest part of one ot the gardens'they have planted the principal fire, look-out station and bell, also a very fine band s^and.

. .V m:. trues ON. THE STREETS. V. , In the streets of Wanganui they have begun to plant trees, but they have made the same , mistake as Auckland d\d when the trees were first put out there.., 'fhe trees are beipg planted out .from the nurseries When only about one . or two years o}d. ’f lie prqpcr plan Would have beau to

have grown them for four or five years in the nursery and allowed them to have attained a clear straight stem of about fourteen to sixteen feet free of branches, and a head of about four or five feet with branches. These trees a 3 they are planted in the streets will take more trouble, time, and money to make good trees (for the purpose required) than if they had been propeily handled before planting out. >!"- CHAFE CULTURE. Mr T. Solar, of Wanganui, has built three very large vineries for growing the grape vine under glass. They are built as spanhouses, and run north and south. Their whole length is four hundred and twentyfive feet, and fourteen thousand square feet of glass is used in their construction. The vines are planted about two feet apart. They yielded this season, Mr Soler told me, nearly £3OO, and there is still a few pounds of fruit on the yiues. The quality of the fruit is just about equal to what can be obtained in the Auckland fruit shops, but here it fetched a little more money than in Auckland, about Is 6d per pound.. The vines are only three and four years old, and Mr Soler estimates his crop will be a third heavier next season. Last season the mealy bug got possession of one of the houses, aad MiuSoler determined that he would either kill the vines or kill the insects. He succeeded in getting rid of the insects, and almost succeeded in getting rid of most of the vines on one side of the house. Many of them, even at the time of my visit, showed signs of the strong remedy that had been employed. Mr Soler also has a considerable plantation of vines out in the open for wine-making purposes at his residence in the town ; he has 2-J acres under vine. The crop this year is going to be very poor, the’vines having been pruned back very hard last winter, and, as I thought by the appearance of this year’s growth, the crop next season will also be poor, the growth being very stunted. In fact, they had the appearance of being exhausted, the fruit about the second week in February being only a little larger than a good-sized pea. The mildew had also attacked them very badly (even worse than vines suffer in Auckland in the open), but Mr Soler uses sulphur pretty extensively and hopes to keep it under. The situation of this vinery is very warm during the hottest part of the season, and also receives all the benefit of the frosts in winter. I was informed that the glass would sometimes register seven degrees of frost. Mr Soler’s system of training is to put in two rows of posts, about seven feet apart. The posts are about seven feet in height; wires are strained across and other wires are placed on top of these, running in the same direction as the line of posts. The vines are planted on each line of posts and taken up and placed over the wires and allowed to grow over them. This leaves them hanging down. The same system of training is adopted in the glass houses. About three miles from Wanganui, Mr Soler lately purchased about 50 acres of land, and last winter he planted 12 acres of vines and 12 of orchard. I had not time to visit these. MR SOGER’S VINEYARD. Mr Soler also makes a considerable quantity of wine. At the present he informed me that he had 250 casks in his cellar, each cask holding from 30 to 36 gallons. The wine is from one year to eight years of age. Ho received the following prizes at the international exhibitions, which shows his wines at least are of good quality Ist prize medal,“New Zealand International Exhibition, Christchurch; prize, medal, Melbourne International Exhibition; Ist prize medal. New Zealand Industrial Exhibition, Wellington ; prize medal, Colonial and Inciian Exhibition,. London, —Bottled by Joseph Soler, Wanganui, New Zealand. Of course, being in his cellar, 1 sampled, and the wine to my palate was very pleasant, and not the slightest heady, but of course I am not a judge of wine. Mr Soler also told me that he labours under great disabilities through not being allowed to distil spirits, so that he may fortify such wine as he may want to export in wood. (He can easily export in bottles without fortifying.) This matter has been before our Parliament for the last six years, but without any practical result as yet ; bub Mr Soler lives in hope. He confines himself nob only to his extensive wine-making business, but thi3 autumn intends going in extensively. for the making of sparkling ciders from apples. He has already fixed up a mill and press ready for operations. Connected with the wine-making business, Mr Soler made a few observations that entirely upset some of my previous ideas connected with wine-making. One of them was that it did not matter much what the quality of the fruit used was so long as the wine-maker thoroughly understood how to handle the wine while under fermentation. If the fruit was bad, or nob thoroughly matured, still the wine-maker could make good wine if he thoroughly understood his business. Another observation which astonished me was that if we had the Australian climate for growing our vines, and our New Zealand climate for fermenting our wines, New Zealand would be the best wine-producing country in the world. These two observations are worth weighing by all those who may intend entering the wine-making industry. MR LAIRDS NURSERY, WANGANUI I next visited Mr Laird’s nursery. It is at the back of the .Wanganui town.: The soil it is composed of is an old swamp, deep rich black soil. The nursery is principally devoted to the growing of fruit and shelter trees, roses and obhef general nursery stock. He has alsq a large and varied supply of bulbs in stock. Most of l}is apples’ar.d other fruit .tree, stock ('had been moved to another place, a .few miles out of Wanganui. Mr Laird kindly offered to drive me out the next morning to' see his other nursery and seed farm, which is situated on ~ part of what is called the Westmere Estate. ’ The next morning we left the town about nine o’clock. After leaving the town the soil was light and sandy, a portion of it being simply sandhills. Most of this was fairly covered with grass, and gave a considerable quantity of feed for stock, We also passed a small lake of about 25 acres. This is one of the two lakes from which Wanganui derives its water supply by gravitation. The- next prominent feature on the road was a plantation of forest trees consisting, of about 80 acres of- pines, gums,: etc. The trees were planted , about ten or twelve years .ago, and, considering the sandy nature of the soil, arc in, first-class condition. Some of them have attained a height of about 50 to 60 feet. The trees were originally planted eight feet apart, and at the present time thinning is required, as some of the trees are unduly crushing one another. After passing this plantation and sanfijhilL?,. ,;we„ got into -the mosUvaluable portion of- the AVestmere Estate. The firsb' hquse belong? to Mr Hagget, ; who entirely devotes his attention tb .the dairy, and sends his milk into •'Wanganui.* 1 The hexUhomestead belongs to Mr'Gardiner, who has taken consider‘(ible pains to make Ids place comfortable. Wool-growing is his ! ; orte. Tho next belonged to'M» ; Wilson, of Ritchie and Wil sop? They have over 6QO acres in gram, crop Moue this season. The roost of the crop, consisting of wheat and oats, had been already cut, and at my visit they were

busy stacking it.; The yield of this large extent of country is expected to exceed 65 bushels per acre, which is nothing uncommon in this part of the country. Next place was ......MR LAIRD’S SEED FARM. About two years ago Mr Laird purchased about 140 acres of the Westmere Estate with the object of cultivating it as a seed farm, so as to partly supply hi 3 seed warehouse l in Wanganui with good seeds. During the last two years there were broken up 50 acres, and part of this has been planted as a permanent orchard. The trees are all of the beat varieties which succeed in the district, and are all true, as they are now producing fruit. Fiom these trees in the future-Mr Laird intends to propagate 3'oung stock for his nursery. This season he had ten acres devoted to seed crops, principally vegetables, consisting of peas, beans, beet, carrots, pai snips, mangold, onions, etc. Most of these seeds were harvested or about to -be harvested and had given capital returns. On this farm there is also a specialty to .be made in growing the different pasture grasses which are already well known to flourish in this district. Although the first start on this farm was only made about two years ago, Mr Laird has obtained and already fitted up the necessary machinery for threshing and cleaning the different seeds, and, at the time of my visit, the workmen were employed threshing peas, which were a splendid sample. Mr Laird intends to have at least 50 acres under seed crop next season. Anyone acquainted with seeds will know what an immense advantage it is to the settlers in a district to be able to go and see the different seed crops growing, and also to make a certainty that their seed is not only true to name, but their germinating qualities of the very best. The situation of the farm is first-class, as it is only about four miles from the town ; and the soil is admirably adapted for the purpose, as it is a. deep, rich, alluvial soil, perfectly level and easily worked, being very friable. The next visit I made was to MR A. LAIRD. This gentleman is a brother of the last> and has bought an adjoining section of about 28 acres. On this farm there is now about seven acres planted as an orchard, and the owner intends in the future to devote his whole attention to fruit-growing. He hopes next season to considerably extend his orchard. The trees already planted were young trees about four years old, and now two seasons in their present situation. At the time of my visit the trees were literally laden with fruit, principally apples. This gentleman has also built;a vinery of considerable size, the cane only showing a few bunches. The next homestead belonged to a Mr Allison, who has had considerable American experience, especially in California. The latter has gone in extensively for lemons and oranges, but time would not permit of my paying him a visit, so 1 cannot give any idea of what success he has attained up to the present. Before dealing with the estate on which these settlers have taken up their abode, I would like to mention a matter for which I am sorry, and that is, that the codlin moth has made its appearance amongst the fruit, and before long the Wanganui settlers will find that.it has come to stay and be ono of the worst pests that have ever entered the district, and it will rapidly spread throughout the district and cause endless trouble and expense to the. fruitgrowers. THE WESTMERE ESTATE. This estate is a large block; of land, consisting of about 25,000 acres in extent; it lies about four miles from Wanganui. A little over two years ago it was cut up and sold in sections.. The average price obtained for it wasaboub£l7 per acre. - Before it was cut up it was used as a sheep and cattle run, and as a rule there were only about four men kept all the year round to look.after the place. The estate has now fallen, into the hands of small bona fide settlers if who, when the sale occurred, purchased about; .from 20 to 200 acre 3 each. There are now, within less than two years, more than a dozen new homesteads erected with families living in each. Besides this, there are about seventy men constantly kept in employment by those few settlers who have already built on their sections.' These are employed summer and winter, besides during the harvest, which was in progress during my \ isit, and there were over onehundredexfcramen employed—one firm, Ritchie and Wilson, employing alone about 30 of these extra men. Just fancy what the two first years after cutting up has produced by the cutting up of this estate to our grain production—some thousands of bushels of grain,, besides-the employment of a considerable - number of men. As the next few years roll on, this estate will be. capable of maintaining in comparative comfort thousands of our colonists instead of thousands of sheep which were only returning a good revenue to a few wealthy capitalists, most of them residing in Britain. Besides this question, look what a volume of trade it will bring to Wanganui, in supplying the wants of the extra population which will be settled within a few miles of them. There are far too many huge estates in New Zealand, and the sooner they are subdivided, the better it will be for-the real bone and sinew of the country.

After leaving Wanganui we traversed a fine valley of some miles in length. The ranges on eacK side of us sonietimes came almost down to the line ; at other times we opened up some,nice little glens with a corresponding valley, in each of which were homesteads. All the level land' in those valleys appeared of first-class quality. After leaving the valley we ascended a pretty-steep grade into the hills. Here the soil seemed of rather poor quality, but was, nevertheless, all in grass, affording considerable scope for grazing purposes. At the top of the hills we arrived at Fordell, and from there rich, level tablelands seemed to stretch away for miles on either side of us. All this country is well watered, and mostly all under grass. After travelling over a few miles of this tableland we descended . through some heavy cutting with steep grades jbo Wangaehau. Here there is a pretty valley of about two miles in width. The soil seemed to be very fertile, and a considerable area had been in grain, and judging by the number of sheaves all over, .the paddocks, the crop seemed to be : ,very,; heavy. , ,The valley seemed to stretch away up for miles into the hills, and towards the sea it opened up considerably. From Wangaehau ; we entered a broken, poor country, some of it what might , be called tableland, and only "fit .for grazing purposes. There we also got a'glimpse of the sea with the bare, barren sandhills. A few miles of this comparatively barren prospect brought us to. level fertile lands again, where a little mixed cropping had been done. Leaving this, we again descended into another valley called • Turakina, which, though not quite so large as the last',’seemed to .bo cut up into numerous small homesteads, which looked as though’the.owners were' prosperous. After leaving Turakina, wo entered more broken country up a steep grade, with impoverished soil on. each side of us, which afforded very poor grazingl .. Tho sheep here s>em to nibble the young shoots of the gorsebushes, which they had clipped into pretty little

round bushes. A number of miles of this poor country brought us to another tableland, in which the soil improved in quality. The country here appears to be almost in the hands of sheep kings, as there were few homesteads to be seen. As we advance, the country still improves, showing areas of good soil, homesteads more frequent, and quantities of crops. Here the country seems for miles to beof good quality, and bne heavy crops of grain can be seen in small patches, until we arrive at Marten. Around this township the soil appeared to be of exceptionally good quality and of great interest, being almost level, and all ploughable. and added to which it is also well I watered. A change took place as we ap--1 proached Halcomb. The soil here appeared to be of a very indifferent quality, and from the appearance of the homesteads and houses which formed the village, I did not think that the settlers were in a very flourishing condition. Of course I did not see the back country, but my impression was that this was the most backward district which I had seen, and as a settlement badly chosen. The soil still continued to assume an indifferent appearance till as we arrived at Feilding we opened up into a splendid country, level lands of first-class quality and extending for miles. The grass and clover, which constituted the pastures, was splendid, looking even in the dry season as if it could have carried much heavier stock than had been allotted it. he few fruit trees which were near the line vveie heavily laden with apples not quite at maturity, clearly showing that the country was admirably adapted for the growth of fruit ; but more extensive shelter will be required before much can be done, as the appearance of tho trees deteriorated as they stood away from the shelter trees. The cold nipping winds must sweep across with great force at times. The small patches which had been under grain crop seemed to be producing abundantly. The homesteads hero also appeared to be evenly distributed over the country, and not of too large a size. This splendid country extended on both sides of the railway line for about 30 miles beyond Feilding. All the lands here seemed to have been heavy bush lands, but the timber i 3 fast disappearing before the axe of the settlers, who are rapidly getting the land under grass. From the appearance of the numerous large stumps and logs distributed over the country, it must be some years before "cropping - , to any extent can bo undertaken. This splendid level bush country continued for miles. Frequently while we travelled vve passed sawmills in full work, and I was informed that considerable quantities of cut timber are taken out, principally red pine. This kind of country continued from Feilding to Palmerston, Manv of the settlers’ houses at the present time simply consist of a two-roomed cottage, but 1 will venture to predict that within the next dozen years this country will be covered with thousands of comfortable homesteads and at the same time giving emplovment and sustenance to thousands, PALMERSTON is a large scattered township situated in the midst of this splendid fertile country, and is rapidly advancing in progress, and at an early date promises to be one of the most important inland cities of New Zealand. As we leave Palmerston, we still travel through the same first-class country, and I would advise settlers tnere if they want to increase their comforts within the next few years to plant round a small section with shelter trees where the house and garden is to stand, so that a few fruit trees, etc., may be planted. Anywhere I saw fruit trees they showed signs of suffering from the high winds which already' sweep over the plains. Another consideration should be that as the heavy timber disapoears, which now encloses the few open settlers, those heavy winds will increase in violence, shelter trees will be an imperative necessity to crops, cattle, orgardens, in the near future. After leaving this country we again entered one that was more broken, the hills being of good quality for grazing, and the level parts being of first-class quality. After doing a few miles of this, darkness set in, and the rest of the journey to Wellington had to be performed in the dark. As we approached Wellington, the motion of the carriages indicated that we were passing through a very broken country, grades up and down very heavy. WELLINGTON. The city of Wellington is situated on the side of the hills composing part of the harbour, which is a very large sheet of water, and entirely surrounded by steep hills. My first night in Wellington was spent about a mile and a half up in the hills. In the morning I was surprised to see the houses perched all over the hill sides. My first impression was that the soil was so very poor and hungry that it would almost be impossible to do anything with it, but on making a short inspection I found that if trenched, and assisted with a liberal supply of manure, ordinary garden operations could be carried on with a fair amount of success, but considerable labour was necessary to obtain this, success. In one or two gardens 1 saw fair samples of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. .Where fruit trees were planted, and especially where they wore kept low and protected with the fence or other shelter, they did fairly well. The instant their tops appeared above the shelter they were checked back at once, the wind cutting very much. Gooseberries and currant bushes seemed to flourish as far as growth was concerned, but the crop was over before my arrival. I was told that very handsome returns had beeu obtained this season. In returning to the city proper in the morning I passed {through a part ofwhat is called the Town Belt. I sat down on alittle knoll which commanded a splendid view of the town and harbour. The place was planted with pine and other ornamental trees and shrubs a few walks being cut and a few seats distributed here and there, the broken nature of the hill side precluding any other attempt to improve much. Some of the trees planted were making good specimens, and in the future will look well, especially if care be taken-to thin out some of the superfluous trees that are beginning to unduly crowd them from their place. GOVERNMENT HOUSE GROUNDS. I next .proceeded to ithe. Government House grounds,which are situated in a central position and adjacent to the Parliamentary Buildings. The Government House in Wellington is much larger than the building in Auckland. Attached to the bouse there is a fine large conservatory, nicely stocked with climbers and other pot plants. This conservatory is about 40 feet long and over 20 in breadth, and is so arranged that plenty of space is given for promenading, and should look well when lit up at uight; but as the Governor was not in Wellington and I did not receive an invitation to a ball I did not see it lit up. Immediately outside the conservatory there is a nice large Ikwn with a number of beds cut out and planted in the old geometrical style. This was the best attempt of this style of gardening which I have seen in New Zealand. The show of flowers and foliage was just at its best in the beds. Adjacent to this, but attached to another lawn and running along a walk, was a long chain border about 2QQ feet long; this also had a fine effect and was

well filled with a good mixture of bedding plants. There is also a considerable number of mixed flower beds and borders well filled with ro, choice collection of plants designed to aap duce a large quantity of cut flowers throughout the season. Along the outer boundary of the grounds there is a considerable number of tree ferns planted amongst the shrubbery, in which they are very effective. Along the walk which bounds this shrubbery affords one of tho pleasantest, coolest, and shadiest promenades which the place affords, * being bounded on the inside by flower border, rosery, chimps of camellia, rhododendron, etc. * At tho main front of the building there is a large, sloping, well-kept lawnwhich must form a tine promenade in the cool of the evening, especially if there is no wind or dust. The other side of the house is occupied by a double tennis court. Towards the rear of the building there is a fine, small, compact range of juts and other glass houses admirably adapted for tho raising of the numerous bedding plants required for the beds and borders, besides a number of pot plants, which are continually required for table decoration. ’There are also two small vineries, from which good crops of fruit are being taken.’ The entrance to the ground is by a fine, broad, sweeping drive flanked by flower borders and shrubberies. To keep Hie whole grounds in fairly good order there are besides the head gardener other two men constantly employed. Wellington Botanic Gardens. After leaving Government House grounds I walked up to the Botanic Gardens. Here I was astonished that in tho centre of the Empire City (and the only city as some Wellingtonians would put it) there was not a great deal more attention paid to the public gardens. Ail the wealth and all the culture and intelligence of New Zealand is supposed to reside periodically in this city, and I would have thought that the culture of such visitors would have induced the Government to make the Botanic Gardens a reality, and not a name only ; but.l suppose the name is intended to represent what is the intention in the future. The Botanic Gardens are somewhat like the Auckland Domain, a little broken in features, with some good natural features which can be much improved when the taste or purse of the managing body will come up to requirements. A great portion, like your Domain, is still under the natuial native scrub. Some of the gullies are very pretty, and a large number of the native tree ferns are growing up along the small creeks. I also noticed one or two nice specimens of your Northern “King of the Forest,” the kauri, and they were seemingly doing well under the shelter of other trees. There was also, on each side of whac I might call the “ walk,” opening up the grounds from the principal entrance, a considerable number of specimen trees planted, principally Coniferw. Some had already attained good proportions. At the same time I was sorry to seo that in a large number of instances they had been planted too thickly together, and many a fine specimen will have to ba sacrificed so as to give others more room to develop. This thick planting of good trees is not confined to Wellington, in many instances the same course has been pursued all over the colonj\ I was glad to see as I strolled along that the necessary steps were being taken by those in authority to cub down some of the superfluous trees, and that this cutting .will be continued as necessity arises. After traversing the comparatively level portion of the grounds, I ascended the rising ground, and for a time I reseed upon a seat which commanded a capital view of a large part of tho city and harbour which on a fine clear day muse be a magnificent prospect. The whole of the grounds seem to be kept in very good order, considering the amount of money expended upon it. There is one good feature connected with the management, and that is, there is one constable drafted from the ordinary police force, whose duty consists in overlooking the grounds and clearing it of all objectionable characters. This makes the garden a much pleasanter and less objectionable resort for ladies than the Auckland Domain, the larrikin clement being kept almost entirely under within the boundary. The authorities in Auckland ought also to try and procure the assistance of a con-table for the Auckland Domain. Before leaving the gardens, I saw a good specimen of the mountain ash in full fruit. It* clusters ot red berries looked splendid to my unaccustomed eyes. Tho different varieties of the holly also seemed to thrive well in and around Wellington. I saw many very fine specimens covered with berries. Some of the residents use this as a garden fence, and where it was attended to and kept in good order, it really made a magnificent fence, far better than anything yet acclimatised in Auckland. The Parliamentary Building. The building in \vh our representatives and Legislative Council sib and frame our laws is a very imposing structure, situa’ed on a rising ground in immediate proximity to the Government House. Sur rounding the buildings there are large, spacious shrubberies, with a good collection of plants, which have already attained a considerable size. The “ Biggest Wooden Building in the World ” —this is the building in which the business of the country is transacted. All, or as many of the different heads of departments as room can be found for, have a suite of offices here. The building is a very imposing structure of four storeys in height, and is built on reclaimed land. Surrounding the building there is a belt of shrubs and trees. These have been planted when young, so that they would have an immediate effect, but at the present time large numbers would require to be thinned out, so as to give more room for the best of them to develop. Such thinning, if nob undertaken early, will soon be useless, as already each plant is beginning to spoil its neighbour.