C—l

10

planted with 1,200 pines ; Eeserve No. 1782 (Winslow), thirteen and a half acres, planted with 5,000 pines : total acreage dealt with, six hundred and twenty-one acres.

APPENDIX No. 2. Maniototo County Foeest Nueseey Eepoet. Sib,— I have the honour to report that during the year ending the 31st March last the receipts from the sale of trees amounted to £30 4s. 2d., exclusive of an amount about equal to the above which is outstanding. A grant of £200 had also during the year been received from Government. The Council expended during the same period the sum of £332 lls. lid., which includes the nurseryman's wages (£l5O per annum), extra occasional assistance, ploughing, fencing, purchase of seeds, &c. The demand for trees is increasing, especially for the older transplanted varieties. Nearly eighty acres of the reserve have been fenced, the Council intending to let the grazing right for a short term of years. During the last twelve months two small parcels of seeds have been forwarded from the Museum, Wellington, the receipt of which I acknowledge with thanks. The excellent supply of water brought into the nursery preserved the plants last summer from being lost through the extraordinary drought which prevailed. More interest is being evinced by the settlers in the purchase of trees this season, as at the present time (June) nearly all the three-year olds are either sold or bespoke. The Council is desirous that the settlers should avail themselves of the opportunities afforded by the nursery in the acquirement of trees adapted for either useful, ornamental, or sheltering purposes, and the Forest-tree Planting Committee have recommended that the attached reduced prices should be charged. The fencing is strong and in good repair, and the buildings are compact and substantial. I have, &c, Samuel McCullough, The Under-Secretary, General Crown Lands, Wellington. Chairman.

List of Trees in Maniototo County Nursery on 31st March, 1886. Poplaes, 1,540 of sorts ; 3,000 oaks, two years old; 2,000 oaks, one year old ; 600 common ash, one year old; 4,800 Pinnsu douglassii, two years old; 3,000 Pinus douglassii, one year old; 500 larch, one year old; 5,400 Scotch fir, one year old; 1,050 Cupressus macrocarpa, three years old ; 2,300 Gupressus macrocarpa, two years old; 14,000 Gupressus macrocarpa, one year old; 5,620 Pinus insignis, three years old; 3,500 Pinus insignis, two years old; 14,500 Pinus insignis, one year old ; 500 red and black currants, three years old ; 210 Wellingtonia gigantea, three years old; 1,000 Wellingtonia gigantea, one year old; 90 Gupressus lawsoniana, three years old; 2,500 Cupressus lawsoniana, one year old ; 900 Biota aurea, two years old ; 60 cedars, two years old ; 300 Cupressus macnabiana, two years old; 50 weeping ash, one year old ; 50 Linus, one year old; 800 Gupressus torulosa, two years old ; 1,000 laburnums, one year old ; 3,000 Pinus austriaca, one year old; 3,750 Pinus austriaca, three years old; 10,546 Pinus maritima, three years old; 19,540 Pinus maritima, two years old ; 8,700 Pinus maritima, one year old ; 8,400 spruce, one year old; 5,600 spruce, two years old; 3,000 spruce, three years old; 10,000 thorn quicks, two years old : making, altogether, a total of 141,806 tree plants from lin. to 3ft. in height. The whole are in a healthy, forward condition.

List of Prices. Gupressus macrocarpa, seedlings, ss. per 100; two years, transplanted, 10s. per 100 ; three years, transplanted, 15s. per 100. Pinus insignis, seedlings, 2s. 6d. per 100 ; two years, transplanted, 7s. 6d. per 100; three years, transplanted, 12s. 6d. per 100. Pinus maritima, seedlings, 2s. per 100 ; two years, transplanted, ss. per 100 ; three years, transplanted, Bs. per 100. Gupressus lawsoniana, one year, transplanted, from 15s. per 100; three years, transplanted, from 3s. per dozen. Pinus austriaca, transplanted, ss. to Bs. per 100; oaks, ss. per 100; hedge hawthorn, 10s. per 1,000 ; poplars, 2s. 6d. per 100; Wellingtonia gigantea, transplanted, 4s. to Bs. per dozen ; Thuja gigantea 3s. to 6s. per dozen; Gupressus macnabiana, 2s. 6d. to ss. per dozen; Cupressus torulosa, 2s. 6d. per dozen; golden arborvita (very rare), ss. per dozen; spruce, one, two, and three years, 2s. 6d., 45., and ss. per 100. A small additional charge is made for plants packed in cloth or boxes.

APPENDIX No. 3. Lake County Fobest Nueseey Eepoet. Sib,— Pembroke, 14th June, 1886. I have the honour to submit for your consideration my report on the County Forest Nursery for the year 1885-86. During the year 1885 seven acres were permanently planted within the reserve, thus completing the planting of the block (25 acres) originally fenced. The trees therein are in a thriving state, growing both rapidly and robust. No better proof could bo given of the fitness of both soil and climate in this section of the colony for the growth of those trees indigenous to the hill country of California and the Pacific coast extending northward—which, in point of beauty and commercial worth, are so justly esteemed—than the display now afforded at the County Forest Eeserve. During the period above-mentioned about ten thousand plants have been sent out. Those to public bodies, civil, educational, and ecclesiastical, whether within or outside the county, have been given gratis ; and to private individuals the very nominal charge of from ss. to 15s. only per hundred has been made. This liberality on the part of your Council is gradually, although slowly, cultivating public taste in the direction of tree-planting, without which the most costly and elaborate