LETTERBOX CORNER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 4 (Supplement)

LETTERBOX CORNER

DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS,— , We shall be announcing the Christinas competitions next week, and Christmas competitions always mean a great piling up of copy of all kinds, so I have tried again this week to use up some of the interesting items that havo been waiting for space. 1 been particularly pleased with all the nice letters that have been sent in lately, some of which are printed today, and am very reluctant to close tho Letter-box once more, but it is nnavoidable, as I have enough on hand now tc last for a month or so. I wonder how the nature-lovers are getting on with their contests? I hope they are busy gathering and arranging leases and miiTng colours industriously on their palettes, so that we may Have a good display for our next exhibitiqji of members' work. I' hope the country members, too, are busy with the Dairy Contest, for it offers good opportunity of testing the practical benefit from a very instructive series of articles. . . Meantime you will soon be thinking of exams, and all the excitement of the closing weeks of this year s school life, but don't forget to look out for our Christmas competition announcement next Saturday! Beat wishes to all, from

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THE WHITE BUTTERFLY Dear Mies Morton^ —Now that spring is here the white butterfly is making its appearance. I wonder if any of your members have watched ihum growing from stage to stage? I have, and found it very interesting, especially the last stage. First the eggs hatch (usually on a cabbage or turnip leaf). These Quickly grow into little green caterpillars. It is rather amusing to watch the way in. which these iare able to lower themselves from any height by the means of a silken thread ■which they: web in the same manner as a epider. These caterpillars eat and eat as much food as possible (this is how your poor' cabbages and turnips are eaten bare to the veins) until they gradually close up and become chrysalises. In the warm weather these hatch into the butterfly itself. The hatching of these is the most interesting part. First appears a tiny split in the shell and the buttejfly gradually pushes out its legs and feelers. It kicks and struggles until it is free. Its wings are very small, a creamy colour and curly. On the wings are black spots, bo small that they are hardly visible. The wings grow very Quickly but remain curly for quite a while. In less than half, a minute the butterfly is full grown. The black spots are at least twenty times their original size. iTn our car-shed on the inside of the roof ■wa found hundreds of the chrysalises. They apparently had been there all the winter. Your loving pen-friend, Cathie Matthews, Tatuanui, R.M.D., Morrinsville (age 13). ; OUR NATIONAL FLOWER Dear Miss Morton,— Although the goldenheaded kowhai has the first vote, clematis the second, and pohutukawa the third, I f.hinV the humble manuka ought to be the National flower. Along the roadsides en barren wind-swept hills the hardy manuka lifts np its small white flower. The starlike flower is exquisite with its dainty pure ■white petals centred with a dark brown or red seed case and dark green leaves. Manuka is widely known, perhaps more so than the kowhai, but this is. sad to say, an unfortunate 'thing, for people who don t realise the beauty oi it kill it unnecessarily. Sometimes pink manuka is found and occasionally a blood-red flower New Zealanders always seem to see its faults instead of its usefulness. Manuka provides shelter for animals when tall enough as well as decorating brown grassy hills. This ill-fated plant is often spoken of as scrub, but bar over-runmng cultivated ground it really does no harm whatever. It a l so grows on cliffs and stops landslips as well as making excellent hedges whenthick and well kept and let us trust that the manuka will always be plentiful for it is a native shrub.—Eon a. Coster, Arldes Bay (age Hi). (Original.) -J

SPRING IN THE BUSH Dear Miss Morton.—While away on holiday recently, I spent a most enjoyable morning wandering through some lovely native bush. Just a little way from the house there were masses of beautiful clematis flowers, so my cousin and I set out to see what other flowers we could find. , , ~ In. the first bush we went through there were dozens of rimus, and J fell to wondering how long it would be before my Birthday" rimus were as big and stately. We found many nikaus, too, so it was not long before we had both the flowers and seeds of this palm. Quite accidentally I a bunch of small clematis and by dint of much struggling with a forked I secured some of these dainty white floweis. Later we got some of the larger variety auite moved on to another clump of treea. There were so few that we hardly expected to find anything of interest, but before long we added puriri flowers and berries, karaka flowers and pukapuka flowers to our collection, as well as several others. As soon as we started our search we were aware of a glorious scent, but it was some time before we found that the pukapuka flower was responsible for it. / . „ m „„ „„j Further on we got some ngaio flowers and a branch of whitewood with its bunches of littlu purple berries. Near the end of our search we found a tarairo tree m berry. These were very high up, so my cousm climbed the tree and picked a lot, as she wanted some to eat. . .. We lay in the sun for a while, then, gathering up our precious flowers we set off for home. We had gone only a few yards when I heard the flutter of wings, and turned just in time to see a pigeon alight on a taraire tree. We watched it for quite a while, hoping that it would move so that we could see it better, but it flew out of eight. I had never seen a pigeon before, so I thought it a very fitting ending to our ramble. / Another day I went for a ride and got some glorious pieces of yellow kowhai. It had a rough journey, due to the hurricanes that met us as we rounded each corner, but it was still very beautiful when I reached home. Since then I have spent many happy hours painting,'these flowers and berries, and each time I "take up .a brush I wish that these were daily excursions instead of rare treats. —Love from yours sincerely, Joan Hill. M.8.G.; Kumeu R.D.