THE BOTANICAL GARDENS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1160, 21 February 1874, Page 15

THE BOTANICAL GARDENS.

It is questionable whether the public or Mr Gebbie, the lessee of the reserve known as the Old Botanical Gardens, have derived the greatest benelit through its cultivated condition during the present season. Not long ago, this spot was almost in a state of nature, having a few rough tracks through it, and used by the residents in the neighbourhood as a short cut. Thinking it suitable for a garden, Mr Gebbie, as may be remembered, applied for and secured a Jease for a term of years, a promise in which was that il 'Wers should be planted, the scrub removed, and ornamental and usef&l irecs put in the ground, through which the public should have free right to walk. That these conditions have been rigidly complied with, or rather more than fulfilled, is evident. The footpaths are in better order, each side of them laid out with flowers and .shrubs, mcc tiding rice paper plants, which flourish in warm climes ; and the scrub ha-> been heaped up ready for the match. Whilst accomplishing this, umnistakeablc traces of a once Maori camp have been come upon. An adze was dug up, and quantities of oyster and cockel shells between some stones disclosed. The most interesting of all is a Maori oven, which was thickly overgrown with turf, being a circular hole fully iifbeen feet in diameter, which has been scooped m the earth and inlaid with stones, in the nicks of which is the mould of ashes. Further relics of the aborigines may probably turn up when more undergrowth is cleared away. At the south-east end of the gardens a neat and substantial wooden bridge has lately been erected across the Leith, and will be convenient for ramblers. At present the" ground is principally stocked with flower plants for ornament, but in time, no doubt, the lessee will utilise a portion of it for a nursery of seedlings and cuttings.