THE OLD AND THE NEW.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 563, 29 November 1915, Page 11

THE OLD AND THE NEW.

CHRISTCHURCH GARDENS THEIR EARLY HISTORY. [Written for THE SUN.] Christchurch people of the young'er generations and strangers to the city who wander among the ordered prettinesses of the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, and pace along the pleasant winding.paths between oldworld blooms and old-world trees, can scarcely realise that little more than 50 years ago the* place whereon all this beauty grows was a waste, yet so it was. Less than 60 years ago there were sandhills from where the City Council Chambers are situated liow, at the corner of Worcester and Durham Streets, to more than half-way across. North Hagley Park. The greater portion of North Hagley Park and of the Domain Gardens consisted of sand on shingle, with little more vegetation than grasses upon it. Evidently there ■was* an old and broad riverbed there. Gradually the rotting of the "dead grasses formed a top layer of black soil, and with the growth of the city the appearance of the land changed. South Hagley Park, however, has always been of a different character, the soil there being largely, a. stiff clay,

for it lies outside the line of the old riverbed. It is said that when the land in South Hagley Park was first broken up, away back in. the 'fifties, it produced 120 bushels of bats to the acre. That sounds rather "tall," but, there were phenomenal yields 'of grain from the, Virgin soil in the early days of Canterbury. In conversation with an old resident of Christchurch, who. is a keen botanist, and who has always taken j a yery close interest in the Domain Gardens and the city's parks, the •writer gleaned some interesting detail's of the ,early history of the Gardens. The grst site set; a£art by the Provincial Government of those days was a block of land between Lincoln Road and where Selwyri Street is now, the block being somewhere about the present site of the West Christchurch School. However, when the Provincial Government, needing funds, sold the reserves which bounded Christchurch, this block of land also was disposed of, and about 90 acres were then set apart where the Gardens stand now. Later, about 10 acres were taken from the Gardens block for Christ's - College. Hagley Park was the gift, to the province; of some of the promoters of the Canterbury settlement, including Lord Lyttelton and the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, the park being named after. Lofd country seat at. -|! • The First" % The first .pf theGardens was ed the first treesthe trees in Hagley Park* aricF aldng the river bank. The first tree plftfitv led in the Gardens was the oak v wmch v : t wak planted ih iS6i3 to '■ (commemorate the" wedding, warcl—the Prince of Wales, 1 as he f'was then —to Princess Alexandra of ed at that time were poplars. In 1867 the gardens dignity' of having a? curator,: arid Mr J. F. Armstrong, who ha 4 f>feviously J>een a plant collector in Australia and South Africa, for private botanists, was appointed to the position.

Plantation work went on vigorously after that, trees and shrubs being sent from, the nursery which was established at the gardens, to many partis of Canterbury, for planting in other domains, in school gardens, and along railway lines, etc. The Ashburton Domain was established •with trees from the Ghristchurch Gardens. The gardens 1 were the means of introducing many English and foreign trees to the country—oaks, ash, elms, syeamores, pines in 20 or 30 varieties, and many others. Plantation in those early days was carried on under difficulties. The seeds ofconiferous trees were the only' ones that would "carry" in the long voyages from the old world. There were no steamers trading to New Zealand then, and the sailing ships occupied four, five,-and sometimes, even six months in the voyages from Britain. All the' first foreign decidtibtis trees which Were planted in Canterbury therefore had to be : imported. The young trees were ; brought 'out in aiid by the : jUme they reached Ghristchurch they : were pretty dry; so they -had to be

soaked in the Avon for/at Week or ; two ore. they were planted out. : Many thousands of trees were imported, but, of course, when these produced seeds later on supplies ■were raised from the seeds, ,as well as from grafting and from cuttings. "When the trees were planted quantities of shingle had to be taken out of the soil. As the water supply of those days was a poor one, obtained only from the Avon and from ; a few artesian wells, much water had to £e carted, and, with the young '".•trees needing almost daily ; watering in the heat of summer—especially in seasons of. nor'-wcst- ; ers—when the shingly soil would not retain moisture, the watering of them was an arduous process. Collecting Native, Flora. One of .the first works \vhich Mr J. F. Armstrong had to set about was the establishment of a native section, for which he collected largely all over Canterbury. Banks Peninsula was practically all forest then, and it had as great a variety of native flora as any other part of New Zea- , land. Many of the northern plants ; were represented on the Peninsula, which, jutting out as it does right j. athwart the currents along the coast, ; caught many drift seeds, and was j also warm enough for-the growth of i the northern plants. Other parts of j the province provided their quota,

especially of veronicas, which always had their centre in Canterbury. Then there were the mountains to draw upon for alpine and sub-alpine plants. So an excellent collection of native plants was got together. It occupied a portion of the, Gardens behind Christ's College. The site of the present native section \yas then a deer park, containing about a dozen fallow deer. ( ; After the abolition of; the Provincial Government, in 1876, the Gardens fell on leaner times. Tree plantation gradually stopped, for lack of funds. ; How big a. thing that had been can be estimated from the fact that in one year 250,(300 trees were distributed from the Gardens for various places in the province. Naturally a large percentage of those trees were planted in and around Christchurch. The Domain's revenue was now restricted to the money obtained from letting the parks for grazing, to a small endowment left by • the Provincial Government, and to the money obtained from the sale of timber. Both the latter two sources of revenue disappeared in the course of time, and the receipts from the rental of the parks for grazing formed the only steady source of revenue until the Christchurch Domains Amendment Act of 1913 gave the Domains Board power to leyy rates upon surrounding local bodies. Limited finances, of course, meant, limited improvement of the Gardens. New fashipns: and the predilections of suceeding curators and succeeding boards also caused a change in. the character of the gardens. Gradually .some of the old features disappeared. The old native section became practically a thing of the past, and the pineltum, which contained over 250 coniferous trees and shrubs, also dwindled, ;aj couple of fires helping in its destruction. A collection of British plants, |of especial interest to old colonists, I disappeared, too. At one time , the I Gardens contained a very pfine bo- f tanical collection, but most of it disappeared long ago.. The present curator, Mr J Young, who has been [in charge of the 1 Gardens for only a | few~?yi&rs, ; ': ii-Vorki-rtg' it up again. Now; tinder Young's guiding jhahd^arid. "with the late Mr C. A. G. j CuniijigliaiTl's [' bequest for the erec-' jtiori pf .wintcir gardens, the Christ-. | church Gardens are taking [ again; among tHle finest in Australasia. : A.L.C.