This month's cover

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 79, Issue 6, 15 December 1949, Page 529

This month's cover

One of the most northerly points of New Zealand, Cape Reinga, is the subject of this month’s cover, which has been reproduced from a painting by L. C. Mitchell and is based on a photograph by National Publicity Studios. According to Maori lore, Reinga is the departing place of spirits, who pause there to bid farewell before descending, by Way of an ancient pohutufcawa tree, to a cavern in the sea which is the entrance to the spirit World. Pohutufyawas, which are to be seen, often hanging precariously from the cliffs, along much of the coast of the North Auckland Peninsula, are associated in the minds of New Zealanders with the Christmas season, because at that time the trees carry their masses of dark crimson flowers. The timber has been used in boatmaking since the earliest days of settlement.

New Zealand Department of Agriculture HEAD OFFICE: Dominion Farmers’ Institute Building, Featherston Street, Wellington. DIRECTOR-GENERAL: E. J. Fawcett ASSISTANT DIRECTOR-GENERAL: R. B. Tennent DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS: Animal Research . . . . J. F. Filmer Dairy . . . . . . • • H. A. Foy Extension . . . . P. W. Smallfield Horticulture . . . . A. M. W. Greig Livestock . . . . . . W. C. Barry Editor: G. J. Neale