PAMPAS GRASS AND TOI TOI.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1579, 10 January 1884, Page 3

PAMPAS GRASS AND TOI TOI.

Tho San Francisco correspondent of tho Now Zealand Herald sends the following interesting item:— '■ Pampas' grass, so like the toi-toi of your country is gaining special notice, and the cultivation of it is now. a feature in one part of our States. The demand for tho beautiful plumes is steadily on the increase, and Now York, Boston, and Philadelphia monopolise almost all grown here. _ In Paris, London, and other cities in Europe, whence these plumes are shipped yearly, they command a largo price,—that is £\ a pair. Think of it! Howlitllo we think of the wonderful waving crops that grow all over New Zealand, stuffing the beds with it, and looking upon it moro as a weed and a nuisance than anything else, though tho plumes here aro so J more beautiful that you would f know the grass; this, of course, duo to cultivation. Last season tnero wero exported 350,000 plumes, and still tho cry was for more. Tho estimate of the present year's crop is £BO,OOO, Ono gentleman has twentyeight acres of grass, and others have ten, eight, and so on, The industry is attended by women, I should think the grass in your country could be utilised in the same manner."