FOR TRISTRAN DA CUNHA

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 22 April 1927, Page 8

FOR TRISTRAN DA CUNHA

NEW ZEALAND WILLOWS AND POPLARS.

At tlie result of patient investigation by Mr, Douglas >M. Gane, and the kindly* co-operation of Dr. Hill, the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, a gift has just been made to the island of Tristan da. Cnnha, from which, it is hoped, much benefit will accrue to tlje islanders in years to come, says a “Times” correspondent. This gift is of several packages of young New Zealand willows and poplars,' which were specially planted and brought forward at Kew for the purpose. They were packed by the Crown Agents for the Colonies, and have gone iri the care of the two new missionaries to the island. Tristan da Cunhg.‘, like most wind-swept islands, has been bare*of trees, shrubs and foliage. In 1922 Kew Gardens sent- out to the island' by the Rev. If. M. Rogers several parcels of ornamental shrubs and hedgegrowing plants, such as Celinisias, Veronicas aiid Pittpsporums, but no word has yet reached the authorities concerning their fate. The last batch of willows and poplars has been sent because one of the chief complaints of the islanders is of the lack of wood and timber. Both of these trees should flourish in this latitude, and eventually do away with the complaint that the girls of Tristan da Cunha have to wait for wreckage to- be blown ashore to build houses before they can think of getting married. In this connection it is interesting to recall that it was entirely due to a gift from Kew Gardens that Ascension Island is now fertile and fruitful instead of bleak and barren. In 1843 a naval report described the Isle ol Ascension as “naked and bleak and barren.” In 1850 the authorities at Kew sent out several packages of young plants, trees, shrubs, and fruit, and in 1865 a further report stated that the plants had grown with complete success. It added that the island possessed thickets of 40 different kinds of trees, and that many fruit trees, were bearing, though only the guavas were ripening.