A SOUTHERN TOUR (Continued).

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 471, 14 May 1890, Page 4

A SOUTHERN TOUR (Continued).

Mr Abbott’s Nursery. This nursery is situated on the Papanui Road, and it only takes the tramears about ten minutes to reach it from the centre of the city of Christchurch. From the entrance gates there is a long concrete walk of about 100 yards ; on each side of this path there is a broad grass verge, with a row of bedding geraniums planted as a ribbon border just outside each verge. Outside this ribbon border there are large square breaks planted with a large variety of different coniferse and other general nursery stock. The stock in the squares range from one to about five years of age and in splendid order. Arriving at the end of the walk, I arrived at Mr Abbott’s dwelling house, when I presented my letters and was led by that gentleman to some splendid breaks of young plants of roses and rhododendrons, of which there was an assortment. The beds of rhododendrons, especially, must have looked splendid when in flower. To the right of the nursery the glass houses are situated, and it seemed to me by the form and compactness of construction that I was visiting an English nursery instead of a colonial one, the arrangements and order of such being far before anything which I, as yet, have seen in New Zealand. The first house which I entered was the propagating pit. At the time of my visit it was filled with a various assortment of young, hard and soft-wooded plants, all seemingly doing well. Adjoining this house is a large stove filled with a fine assortment of fine foliage and flowering plants in splendid health. The greenhouse or show house was packed with a various assortment of flowering plants, conecicuous amongst which was a very fine collection of tuberous-rooted begonias in full flower, amongst which there were some really fine doublp and single varieties. They were the finest col'ections which I have ever seen, Mr Abbott informed me that he had one hundred first-class \arieties besides a large number of second-class varieties. To give an idea of what those flowers mean in a greenhouse, their period of flowering lasts from four to five months each season, and they give very little trouble.as a pot plant. Thedisplay of flowers in this greenhouse was the best which I have seen in the colony. At the back of this house there is a fernhouse filled with a large variety of ferns in pots just a nice little handy size for market. The next house was filled with a general assortment of flowering plants (this also, like the show-house, being a perfect blaze of various flowers). I next entered a large fernery. The beds on each side of the house are built up with rock work in which the plants are planted. This house is one mass of foliage, derived from the large number of varieties of ferns it contains. In this house there are about eight different varieties of tree ferns alone, the foliage of which almost hides the glass roof of the house. Besides the graceful manner in winch the fronds droop all over the centre path through the house, Mr Abbott has altogether over 6,000 square feet under glass ; besides he has a large lath house, a skeleton house, and skeleton frames, filled with a large variety of heaths, young coniferas, camellias, bovardias, rhododendrons, etc., in pots ready for market. Besides this there was also a large assortment of various herbaceous plants, ordinary bedding plants, bulbs, etc., comprising a splendid healthy nursery stock suited to the lequirements of the colony. The space occupied by this nursery is about three and a-half acres in extent. Mr Abbott has another nursery farther out of the city of six acres in extent in which he grows his stock of fruit and forest trees, also the many different varieties of nub-bearing trees and bushes.

These he has tried to make a specialty ol and lias imported many varieties from different parts of the world. Roses are also grown. There is at present in stock over 100,000 fruit trees from one to four years of age. Mr Abbott makes a specialty in the working of young apple trees. First of all he grafts the Majeton on the Northern Spey stock, afterwards grafting the other varieties upon the Majeton. This system of double grafting succeeds admirably in producing fine, hardy, thrifty, good fruit-bear-ing trees, almost entirely free from blight, as both the stock and intermediate stems are blight - resisting varieties. . Besides carrying on this large nursery business, Mr Abbott, like one of you Auckland nurserymen, goes in extensively for breeding firstclass fowls, in which he is also pretty successful. The two or three hours which I spent in this nursery was the best horticultural treat which I have had since the Jubilee Horticultural Exhibition which was held in Auckland last January.