SOUTHERN TOUR (Continued).

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 463, 16 April 1890, Page 5

SOUTHERN TOUR (Continued).

(By It ORTHS.) The fernery at the Exhibition opens out into a largo spacious garden of about three acres in extent. This garden is entirely enclosed by tho Exhibition buildings, and is perfectly level. The centre is divided into several large lawns, and different sized and shaped flower-beds are cut in the grass. The. beds are principally filled with the ordinary bedding plants, fairly well furnished with flowers, but I thought that if the plants had been pub a little closer together the effect would have been finer and moro massive. The centre of the garden is occupied with a large rustic band stand,the supporting columns of which are simply round trunks of trees with the bark left on. The roof of this building is also thatched with straw. This rustic house has a very fine appearance from all parts of the garden. Toward the east and west of this rustic building, and adjacent to the. main Exhibition buildings, wasalargeMaorimeeb-ing-houseand a Fijian house, which had also a very good effect. At what I would call the end or back of the gardens there is a large rock work, in tho centre of which is a cataract fall of about eight feet in height with a basin at the bottom. The water for the fall is supplied by a centrifugal pump inside the main building. Tho effect of the water, rushing, dashing, and splashing over the rocks into the basin is very fine. Towards the right and left of tho waterfall there was a considerable-sized, border with a good width. Part of this is filled with native shrubs, etc. ; other portions are devoted to the growth of small patches of grains, grasses, etc. In the front an attempt has been made to. do some scroll work and lettering with small bedding plants, bub in my estimation the lines were not sufficiently brought out to make them definite enough. The whole gardens looked well, and were kept in splendid order, a good supply of water being in constant uso during my visit. There wa3 one item which I thought detracted from tho appearance, and that was the model of the Eiffel Tower, stocked with whisky. For me to look at this tower from any portion of the grounds, it was a blob on the general appearance. Perhaps if I had been allowed to sample, appearances might have altered considerably. At night the gardens were lit up by two electric lights, suspended from two pretty high poles on the east and west side of the rustic band stand. Tho light was just sufficiently strong to enable one to see the general outline of the grounds. During my visits at night there were very few promenaders. The Botanic Gardens, Dunedin. These are situated about a mile and a halt from the centre of the city, and are easily reached by tramcar. The principal entrance is just about 100 yards after crossing a small stream called the Water of Leith. From the principal entrance Iwalk up through a considerable portion of almost perfectly level land of about twenty acres in extent. This portion is laid out in an irregular manner with drives, walks, etc. The lawns on each side of these are planted with various varieties'of specimens, conifer* and deciduous trees at considerable distances apart. Here and there throughout the lawns are a number of largo flower beds planted with ordinary bedding, flowering plants giving a good show of bloom/ In this garden I was informed that no artificial watering was required to keep up a good show of llowersduringtheseason, as thorainfall was so regular; a sufficient quantity fell to keep the plants in good growing order the whole season through. The level portion of tho ground is partly surrounded by water, the Water of Leith being on west and Lindsay’s Creek on east boundary. Both creeks join in the gardens.. There are also three large artificial ponds in this part of the gardens, which greatly enhance the general appearance of the grounds. To keep up a stock of flowering and bedding plants for the gardens there are two large propagating pits and a sei’ies of frames well suited for the propagation of stock. On leaving the level portion of tho ground I crossed a bridge and began to ascend the higher or more broken portion of the grounds. Tho greater part of this is still covered with the original native mixed scrub. Throughout this portion of the grounds there are a number of walks and drives which give very easy access all over the grounds. There aro also considerable number of acclimatised trees aud shrubs planted in the scrub. These aro just beginning to show themselves above the scrub. From part 3of the rising grounds fine views of the city and suburbs can bo obtained. Thi3 large park is only a part of the Dunedin public reserves, which in all embrace an area of about 500 acres. Fo maintain and keep these reserves in order there is at present, I was informed, only an annual income of about £450. Besides what labour is paid for, there is always a gang of prison labour, under a. warder,employedthnkeep in “eg dlace in order ; and this is also supplemented by the Charit able Aid Board, as all those who may apply for relief are sent to work in the reserves till other and more suitable employment presents itself. From these two sources a { considerable amount of labour ?is done, without trenching on the annual fuuds. Voice from above —* Hortense, tell the man mamma is out and to call again. l Hortense O’Flaherty— 4 Wad yez moind cumin’ again ?' Mamma’s out.