GRATIFYING CRITICISM.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 32, 7 February 1908, Page 2

GRATIFYING CRITICISM.

1 — -—^f». -" • A vidfc was paid lo Rotonia laaH - week by Mr. W. K. Gnilfoyle, director of tha Melbourne Botanical Gardens. Speaking to a Rotorua Chronicle reporter, Mr. Guilfoyle said ho was delighted to find how well the sanatorium grounds' were kept. He had bfceir particularly struck by the growth made by the rhododendrons, camellias, and azaleas. He had never seen plants of these families in; cultivation so large. An azalea seven or eight feet high knd eight ajv ten feet in diameter was unusual in Australia, as were camellias fifteen feet high. The bamboos i& the grounds woro very fine, and he thought that tho family could be much more fully represented. He was of the opinion- that all would do well, even 1 tho giant bamboo of China. Altogether tha grounds presented a flno display ' of flowers. What \VaS wanted WasJ'topdressing' for the grass. Tho area under cultivation as gardens was thirty acf«s, and the ground was used to good ack^ vantage. Ho said he was much uaton-^ ished at the work don& at the forest' re* servo at Whakarewarewa. Again ho was struck by tho marvellous growth. ' Ho was shown a large shoot six foct long, the result of ono season's growth. Such a growth was unheard of in the natural habitat of that tree. The place ~wai on a- scale that surprised him, and he got some figures for presentation to his department in Victoria on his r«tumL The area of the nursery at Whakarewarbwa was 85 acres, and the .output for WOT was 5,000.000 seedling*.