THE DOMAIN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10212, 5 December 1893, Page 6

THE DOMAIN.

') A DESCRIPTION. It has been well said that if you interest the people in what is beautiful in nature the people will cease to be interested in what is unwholesome in art. The mission of a public garden is to interest and instruct the people in the beautiful tree-life of the earth, and to gratify those tastes ■for the lovely with which everyone is imbued more or less. Few persons there are who are not filled with delight at the handsome prospect of a smiling landscape; who, do nob love the shade of the umbrageous trees; who do not find pleasure in the scent of the flower and the beauty of its form; who do not find •, -Interest in plant life whether it be ■magnificently large or elegantly small. Man's natural tastes being for the beautiful in nature, the public garden should minister to those tastes, and by flowering shrubs captivate hie eye for form and 'colour combined; by delectable flowers r . 'gratify his wish' for fragrant odours, and his desire for exquisite figures; by graceful trees supply him with the largeness and he requires., And that his sense of the picturesque may be gratified let the trees and shrubs be grouped with due regard for. colour, form and effect; that his thirst for knowledge may he satisfied as much as possible, let him know the names of the plants and their homes; and that his pleasure may he complete let the walks be smooth and broad, and the views charming and varied. . Christchurch has been made the pleasant < oity it is by its trees. Those who had the forming-of the city deserve the heartfelt thanks of all who now live in it for rendering it beautiful and healthy. The variegated groups of trees on every side, the restful, peaceful colour of the living green; one cannot hut look round with loving pride at such a sylvan, Englishlooking scene. Our fathers built this up —they planted the trees, they beautified at every point their home; and now they < have passed away, and left us these sweet natural beauties, for the days to come. The lover of nature is at home in Christchurch. His thirst for what is beautiful and interesting is appeased; and on the xiver; in the gardens or in the parks he may revel in what delights him. The Domain is worthy of the town, and well performs the mission of a public .■■■■ garden. It is excellently stocked with striking representatives of most of the genera of flowering shrubs, shade trees and blooming plants ; the grouping and arrangement are admirable, and all the conditions of a garden that shall at once captivate and interest, instruct and please, are complied with; Looked over by a men whose soul is in his work, the gardens N •re what they should be. Mr Taylor is a practical botanist—a man of science and a nan of skill—-and recognising what is exacted from a garden by those who love the beautiful, has to the largest extent possible made it come up to the necessary standard of excellence. Among the ‘ chief improvements to the Domain this year are the making of paths and the opening up of the river views. The gardens borrow a great deal of their beauty from the Avon : with its glorious fringes of willows and the glimpses of its moat attractive points caught through spaces left . lor that purpose, add in no small degree to the pleasure of a walk through the Domain. Several paths have been made with smooth unbroken surfaces, which are a great improvement upon the gravelled paths. These hew walks have bean, faced with road-sweepings supplied by the Oity Council—an excellent purpose thus ‘being served by base material. The Council, by its generosity, has enabled the Domain to he greatly improved in this respect, and mneu ofthe material has been found to |>e of value on the flower borders. The spring work of pruning has well progressed. The work of the ten degrees of frost experienced during the . winter is noticeable, ' some of tho Australian specimens having succumbed to the enemy they had not known before. The rhododendrons are this year blooming in prolific luxuriance, and moat of tho flowering, shrubs show signs of having firmly 'established themselves. All have made a remarkable improvement under the favourable conditions experienced during ■ the past spring. The lawns look beautiful and are in fine condition. Among a . bed of yucca plants and forming quite a feature is a fine specimen of the Fourcroa Longxva, which has thrown up a magnificent stem some twenty feet in height and covered with flowers. This plant is said to yield a valuable fibre. Groups of, ferns and cabbage trees give character to parte of the gardens, and an "English' border” recalls memories of the''miniature gardens one used to tend •b Borne, for there are all the flowers we knew so well and used to watoh so anxiously. The “ monkey puzzle” tree finds a prominent place, and has several admirable representatives. A large Californian plant is also noticeable.— to wit, the Wellingtonia gigantea, a celebrated timber tiee. The Western Australian corner is well stocked, but the frost has done sed work with one or two shrubs. The native plants are beautifully grouped, and some fine shrubs indeed are included among them. Then the European corner is full of delight*. Shrubs and flowers bo well re- . membered are there, as also ia strange.

looking vegetation in vast variety. .-Japanese plants thriving luxuriantly add to the general interest, , and one could spend a day in eearohing oat their beauties and discovering their various traits. To most the Domain is one long source of pleasure and interest, and were the plants marked with their names and nations it would be full of instruction. This, it is understood, bas been done once, but the labels so valuable to the thinkers proved too much of a joke for the unthinking, and they changed them from tree to tree, and tore them off and otherwise made away with them until now hardly any remain. In spite of the larrikins, however, the manager has determined to relabel every plant in- the Domain, It may be hoped that the Gardens, now so well established, will flourish and continue to daily delight hundreds, to cause them to appreciate the lovely iu Nature and value it at its true worth.