SOME BOTANIC GARDENS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 284, 28 October 1933, Page 12

SOME BOTANIC GARDENS

LECTURE TO GARDEN CIRCLE. “Glimpses of Some Botanic Gardens of the World” was the title of an address given to members of the Palmerston North Garden Circle by Dr H. H. Allan, systematic botanist to the Department of Agriculture, at the Boys’ High School last evening. The chair was taken by Mr P. Black, curator of parks and reserves in Palmerston North, and there was an attendance of over 20, a number of school boys being also present. The lecturer illustrated his remarks with a number of fine lantern slides, which were coloured in many cases, giving a vivid impression of the glories of their subjects. Prior to the opening of the lecture, the secretary gave a progress report of the arrangements regarding the national flower show. He said that extra space had been applied for owing to the number of applications received for it. A short address was given by the organiser of the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, Mr G. A. Green. He said he was greatly pleased to see the amount of interest being taken already in the national flower show. The show would be a very important event in Palmerston North. The promise of entries had come from over a wide area. He then dealt with the activities of the institute. He touched upon its work in the preservation of the Waipoua kauri forest and its present activities in regard to the desired preservation of a strip of bush two miles wide along the Rotorua-Lake Waikaremoana road. The institute had a large membership and was a nonshowing body, he said. But all should help the institute in every way they could because of its very worthy aims. The first botanical garden established in Europe was the one at Padua, and it was established in 1545, said Dr Allan. Glimpses of botanic gardens at many cities of tlie world were shown, commencing with those at Sydney anu Adelaide. Pictures of a garden in Java were thrown on the screen, the garden being one surrounding tlie Governor’s residence. It extended over 90 acres and there were 10,000 named varieties in the garden. Coloured scenes of massive and slender palms followed with glimpses of fig trees and the lecturer continued to give details of the huge tropical lianes. A sketch of the biggest variety of orchid in the world was shown, that orchid carrying several hundred blooms. The horticulturist had seized upon the pitcher-plant, he said, and had, from the wild plant, produced a number of very beautiful examples in the “pitcher”. In Ceylon there were gardens established in 1821 that occupied about 150 acres. In the gardens were examples of the brazlbnut tree, many bamboos (the giant variety of which reached a height of over 100 feet and a diameter of ten inches), different palms, the india-rubber tree, taro, ricepaper tree, and many other very interesting trees and palms. In 1760 the Princess Augusta had marked off nine acres of her land at Kew as a herb garden, but in Queen Victoria’s reign it had another burst of activity, said the speaker in introducing the Kew Gardens. It was now 288 acres in size. Many views of different sections of the gardens were shown, depicting them in different seasons, and also views of different sections devoted to particular families in horticulture. The temperate house was the house in which the bulk of our New Zealand plants were grown, he said. In the Victoria House at Kew he had seen the giant waterlily Victoria Regia. Its leaves were six feet across, but the flowers lasted only 24 hours. There was a steady succession of bloom, however, in the blooming season. Kew Gardens had a number of delightful walks, continued tlie speaker, and there seemed to be no end to their variations. The rhododendron dell was one of the most charming. Views were shown of St. James’s Park Regent’s Park, the tulip beds at Oldham, and other places in England, also views of the gardens in Edinburgh and Queenstown, New Zealand, the latter with examples of the native creeping lawyer, and also slides depicting scenes in the open air plant museum at Wellington. The final slides shown dealt with a number of tlie more striking of garden flowers which were not very unusual. Much of the horticultural wealth had been won at great expense by explorers and among them, great and remembered by many New Zealanders, was Allan Cunningham, whose remains lay in the Sydney "Botanic Garden, concluded the lecturer. His spirit still animated horticulturalists to-day, lie said, amid applause. A hearty vote of thanks was passed to the lecturer on the motion of the chairman.

A competition for the best vase of flowers brought hv a member was held and resulted: —Mr T. H. Stockdale (tulips) 1, Mr J. W. Hodgson (roses) 2, Mr C. J. Erenstrom (roses) and Mr J. P. Speedy (sweet peas) 3 equal.