PUBLIC FERNERIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9367, 25 November 1893, Page 1 (Supplement)

PUBLIC FERNERIES.

A SUGGESTION.

Paper Read Before the Auckland Institute by tho Uev. P. Walsh, Waiuiate North.)

In advocating the establishment of public ; ferneries in our principal centres of population—which is the object of the present paper—l may be excused if I enlarge somewhat upon a subject, which, though familiar enough to older colonists, hardly comes within the observation of later arrivals and the younger generation of our town populations—namely, the deplorable destruction of almost all forms of indigenous vegetation which is taking place throughout the country. Few of our townspeople, at least, are afc all aware of the great and increasing extent of this destruction, which is seen not only in the shrinkage from various causes of the area of the standing bush, but in the thoughtless and wanton demolition of "specimen " plants that have survived the general wreck, and would, if permitted to remain, contribute largely to the interest and beauty of the landscape. A group of graceful fern trees, growing in some damp and sheltered corner, have, perhaps, just managed to escape the devastating (ire of the clearing ; but, to save the trouble of splitting a few slabs, they are cut down to patch a fence or to build an outhouse. A lovely nikau palm has focusaed the beauty of some little green clump that stand.* like an oasis amid the desert of charred stumps and bleaching skeletons ; but, with the stately kauris growing beside __ it, it is slaughtered to furnish cheap decoration for a country ball-room. A rugged old puriri, scorched and torn, is slowly renewing its youth with a vitality rare amongst JNew Zealand trees. Ib has beon contemptuously allowed to stand because its gnarled trunk will nob yield a length of posts, or because it was too hard to chop up for firewood. One would fain hope that it was safe, but, alas! its buttressed roots offer a too convenient place for the road-contractor to " sling his billy," and it is slowly roasted to death, while the road-contractor and his gang smoke their after-dinner pipes beneath its shade. ! Now the saddest parb of it is that this I loss it! quite irratrievable. A nikau or a ferntree, or indeed, with few exceptions any native tree or shrub, onca destroyed, is under ordinary conditions, never replaced. The seedlings, as they appear above ground, are at once browsed off by cattlo or sheep ; while as to the wealth of ferns, which in the bush in its natural state occupy every available inch of space, they are in sett-led districts soon trodden down or consumed— in fact, for the greater part of our town populations they, are practically non-ex-istent ; they have vanished with the bellbird and the tui, and must now be sought amongst the far-off mountain ranges whose steep crests and gullies are as yet comparatively untrodden by the everencroaching cattle of the settler. The necessity of making some stand against this lamentable destruction has

.en recognised by the people of New Zealand in the setting apart of blocks of and throughout the country a3 State forest •eserves, nob the least valuable of which is hat of the Little Barrier Island, a place >minently suitable, both from its climatic md topographical conditions as a conservatory for indigenous plant and animal life. Still even though more adequate conservation of these reserves were made than is at) jresent attempted, thoir advantages are nob lirectly available to the bulk of our town copulations. We wanb something nearer it hand, something that we can see and hi joy as a portion of our daily life. tVe are familiar with the blue gum and ilie Pinus insignis, with the Norfolk 3ine and the macrocarpa ; the oak and the ilm and the poplar are conspicuous in our itreets and suburban allotments. But of ihe indigenous vegetation most of us know .*ery little indeed. In fact there are many lative-born New Zealanders who could nob listinguish between a rimu and a kauri, md who are obliged to form their idea of :he most beautiful forest in the world from -he mutilated specimens of the pohutucawa, which can hardly be said to adorn ;he coast lino of our harbour, or from the scrubby survivals in the domain that are Jeing rapidly exterminated by the more /igorous growth of the imported article. Now it seems to mo that what is wanted n view of this state of things is a public ornery, as part of the recreational outfit— f I may use the terra—of every important colonial town. I hope the time is not far listant when, as in sister colonies, public >pinion will sanction the expenditure >f a sufficient sura to form and mainlain a botanical garden in each of our :hief centres of population, in which ipecimens of every native plant will find a lome, bub for the present it is perhaps best ,o be satisfied with a venture on a more nodeab scale. We have public parks, public ibraries, public art galleries and museums ; vhy nob public ferneries? The cost would 36 proportionately trifling, while the advantages are so self-evidenb that it is almost wnecessary to enumerate them. Every /isitor to the late Dunedin Exhibition must •ecollecb that the fernery, though a mere temporary affair, on a comparatively insiglificant scale, was one of the mosb popular )f the sights in connection with the undor;aking. Day after day, and all day long, ;he globe-trotter and the lately-arrived settler might be seen comparing the almost ;ropical luxuriance with the more scanty products of less favoured climes, while jven to the native-born New Zealauder the wealth of assembled beauty was a revelation, as grateful as it was unexpected. What this ephemeral "side-show" was to the visitors to the Dunedin Exhibition a public fernery would be to our settled population, only on a much more perfect and extended scale. To the inhabitants of the city it would supply a permanent and unfailing source of wholesome enjoymenb at once elevating and refining. Ib would educate the taste of the country settler, and help to arouse his interest in the protection of that which he usually deems so worthless because it is so common. And to the traveller from abroad, seeking respite from the turmoil and glare of the busy thoroughfare, it would come as a glimpse of fairy loveliness, suggestive of Alpine heights and sylvan solitudes—of sound and lake and waterfall, inviting him to pause on his journey and join the ever-increasing band Of explorer! who annually find their way bo our shores. The city of Auckland possesses excep tional advantages for an undertaking of the kind suggested. Nob only ia the mild anc equable climate of the province peculiarly suitable for the growth of every descriptior of fern, whether native or exotic, bub it; varfow topographical conditions ..hi; t > tc

make ib the home of a very large number of species. Nor would the work of collection involve any great labour or expense. The remotest corners of our gulfs and islands the favoured haunts of the most beautiful and rarest sorbs— now within easy

access by means of our coasting steamers, and there are not wanting throughout the country districts persons of taste and culture who would be only too glad to collecb and forward such specimens as mighb be required. To Auckland, then, should naturally fall the honour of leading off in an enterprise which would soon be taken up in every city in the colony. The quostion of cost would of course have to be faced ; bub the sum required, as already stated, would pot be a very formidable one ; while, as a matter of fact, the necessary funds are nob usually wanting once the desirability of a public undertaking is admitted. The general Govern might very fairly be asked to make an annual grant in support of an object of such wide-spread importance, to be supplemented by the city authorities, who would properly act as guardians and trustees; and it is also possible, and indeed quite probable, that in this, as in the case of other of our municipal institutions, some public-spirited person would come forward with substantial support. Before dismissing the subjecb, ib may be well to say a word as to site and structure, though of course these would be influenced by the conditions of individual localities. Speaking generally, a public fernery should consist of two departments, one in the open air in some sheltered position, where a good water supply is available, and the other under glass or glass and trellis combined. Ib would, of course, be well if the two could be pi aced together, so as to form part of a single plan, and for the sake of economy of maintenance; bub this is not of vital im-

porbance, so long as both are conveniently accessible. In the case of Auckland, the Domain gully and the Albert Park would respectively offer every advantage. As regards the plan of the building for the covered department, the cruciform shape, surmounted by a dome at the intersection of the arms, which is usually adopted for large conservatories, would probably be found most convenient, and at the same time most externally imposing, especially if an aisle or lean-to were carried along the principal sides. By this arrangement the different sizes of the plants would be accommodated by the varying height of the roof, while from every part of the building the eye would be naturally led up to the central group. The larger plants should be placed in the ground, and a system of finely-per-forated water-pipes carried overhead, so that a shower of rain could be turned on when required.