NATURE STUDY IN THE NORTH.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13112, 11 May 1908, Page 8

NATURE STUDY IN THE NORTH.

DR. COCKAYNE'S VALUABLE INVESTIGATIONS.

NEW ZEALAND PLANT LIFE. After a botanic survey of the Tongariro National Park and other valuable scientific research in the North, Dr. Cockayne has returned to Christchurch, and during an interview with a ••Press" reporter imparted some interesting information as to his investigations. Dr. Cockayne leaves again in a week's timo for the experimeintal stations at Ruakura 3 nd Waerenga, there to confer with those who aro specially engaged in research connected with plants, hoping to draw up a scheme ot experiments with regard to liax and al&o various cereals. PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS. "These will bo merely preliminary investigations, because the season is very late, and the more special work will be undertaken in the spring," said Dr. Cockayne. ''During my recent botanic survey of the Tongariro National Park, I -was able to pay some attention to the variation ot the phormium tenax in tho wild state, and although well aware how extremely variable the plant was, certain varieties growing in tho neighbourhood of Karioi showed characteristics which I had never noticed before. It is this extreme variability of tho plant which leads one to believe that considerable changes may be brought about artificially in no very long period of time. Mr T. F. Cheeseman, in his 'Flora of New Zealand,' says: —'Considering tho economic importance of the plant, it is singular that no systematic attempt has been made to collect the whole of the varieties and cultivate them side by side in one, at least, of the public gardens of the colony. Until this is done, it is practically impossible to describe them in a scientific manner. Isolated descriptions of a few without comparisons with tho rest would be of littlo use.' " THE VARIATIONS OF PHORMIUM. "Before these words were written, and since the publication of the 'Flora,' a great deal has been done by the Agricultural Department to bring into one place as many varieties, especially those prized by the Maoris, as possible. Mr McGregor, who has had great- experience of the cultivation of flax, is especially engaged for the above purpose, and already ho has done much valuable work in. that regard. It is from his material in the first, place that I hope to make a beginning, and I purpose as soon as possiblo to write an account of the variation, in phormium, bringing up to date, as early as I am able, all that is available on the 'subject, and going into detail into the microscopic structure of the leaf, which, of course, lias the strongest bearing possible on fibre production. TWO METHODS OF PROPAGATION. Another .point which makes phormium difficult to work with experimentally is the fact that it can. be propagated in two ways, either by seeds or by pie-cap of the underground stem. This latter method, technically called vegetative propagation, enables one to multiply plants to any extent which would not- como true from seed, and is the chief method by which various fruits are propagated. On the other hand, it is very important to know whether different varieties of phormium will come true from seed, fon if thej' do so, the difficulty of plant breeding operations will bo much lessened and the time of producing new varieties be immensely shortened. • Regarding plant breeding in general, every country has its peculiarities of climate and soil, and because an economic plant is a success in one country it is iby no means certain that it will- be equally valuable in another.s Therefore, if we in .New Zealand are to have the best plants possible for local conditions they roiust be raised locally. In the system which I hope to inaugurate, accurate reports will bo kept of ail that is being done, so that when I or others have to give up the work it can be continued exactly where we left off. All that we have done can be seen, our mistakes avoided for the future and our successes increased. It is very clear that the work of a private individual in plant breeding can never equal that undertaken by the State. When the private individual is compelled to cease his labours there is no one to deal with them, whereas if accurate records are kept the work at tho Government experimental stations can be continued, one man replacing another as time goes on." FORTHCOMING REPORTS. Under the direction cf the Lands and Survey Department, Dr. Cockayne has collected two reports on New Zealand. One of them deals with the Tongariro National Park, and contains an account of its botany, geology, scenery, legends and other matters of interest with regard to this national domain. Tho geological mrt has been supplied by Mr R, Speight. F.G.S. The second report deals with the Waipoua- State Forest Reserve, which is the last extensive piece of virgin kauri forest in New Zealand. Up to the present no detailed account has been given of the kauri forest, and this report seeks in some measure to supply the deficiency. "The life history of the forest, the causes for the remarkable distribution of tho kauri (it and over 100 other plants not occurring south of latitude 38deg), and tho general biology of those plants which are a_ociotea together to build up a kauri foresiJ." continued Dr. Cockayne, "are gone into at some length. The.two reports will be issued as bulletins by the Lands and Survey Department of tho same size is tho geological bulletins of Dr. Bell, and will be illustrated by a considerable number of photographs and maps. They should appear at the beginning of July."