o.—l.

114

After having concluded my work at the Hermitage I returned to Christchurch vid Westland. Crossing Fitzgerald Pass, which at this late season of the year was deep in snow, I proceeded down the Copland Eiver to the coast. I found the days short for travelling, and the bush very dense and wet. I would not recommend any one to attempt this journey so late in the year, and I may consider myself fortunate in getting through as easily as I did. I arrived at Ferry House, some six miles south of Gillespie's Beach, on the third evening out. The pass across the main divide is a good one, but I consider the eastern side too steep to allow of track-making, but a track is quite possible up the Copland Eiver to the summit of the pass on the western side. J. M. Clack, Alpine Guide.

APPENDIX No. 10.

NUESEEIES AND PLANTATIONS.

AUCKLAND. During September I visited this district for the purpose of selecting sites for a State forest nursery, plantation lands, and also to carry out certain work in connection with the sowing of a 50-acre allotment at Eangitaiki, on the Kaingoroa Plains, about twenty-five miles east of Lake Taupo, in order to ascertain what grasses, forage plants, and forest trees would succeed in this barren pumice region. These immense plains, containing over half a million acres, range in altitude from 1,500 ft. to 2,000 ft., and are broken by numerous deep water-worn gullies, with almost perpendicular sides. The native vegetation is of a very scanty, stunted nature, and comprises the following plants : Grasses — Microlcena stipoides, Hierochloe redolens, Danihonia semi-annularis, Poa anceps, and the common tussock (Poa australis, var. Icevis). Shrubs — Leptospermum scoparium and ericoides, Gaultheria nipestris, Dracophyllum subulatum (the most characteristic plant of the plains), Coriaria thymifolia, Gassinia vauvilliersii, and Garmichcelia jimcea, the branches of which afford the main sustenance for the droves of wild horses. Smaller plants are represented by Celmisia longifolia, Muhlenbeckia axillaris, Gyathodes empetrifolia, Pimelia prostrata, Baoulia hectori, Haloragis micrantha, and Leucopogon frayeri, the latter forming dense patches on the poorer portions of the plain to the exclusion of all other herbage. The common sweet-briar seems to be spreading rapidly, the fruit being readily eaten by horses. It affords shelter to native grasses from the scorching sun in summer and from the extreme frosts of winter, and thus produces the only green patches that are to be met with on these plains. It may be mentioned that the paucity of herbage seems to be due to the poisonous properties of the falling leaves of Dracophyllum subulatum, as in the vicinity of such shrubs not a vestige of pascual vegetation is observable. 'The site for the plantation had already been selected, and was fenced, cleared, ploughed and harrowed on my arrival. As it was impossible to obtain the use of a heavy roller in the district I was reluctantly compelled to sow the seeds under the worst possible conditions. The eucalypts were sown around the boundary for a width of 2-J- chains, and within this belt the land was pegged out in 1-acre plots, on which were sown twenty-five species and varieties of fodder plants and grasses, two varieties of pines, and one of larch. Between each kind of grass a space of 12 ft. was left unsown, in order to test their respective spreading capabilities. The sowing completed, I endeavoured to make arrangements to have the land trodden by sheep, but unfortunately only a few small flocks were travelling at the time. The following is a list of seeds sown :—

—, , ■ - _—^—_ __ , imnai • tower peak.

.ouni ;am. :eig' Liml ;e. Ft. Hochstetter Dom* a it * it * it 9',179 9,179 T. N. Brodrick and survey party H. Godfrey (Birmingham), Dr. W. K. Cox (Timaru), Jack Clark, and G. Graham Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell (Hobart), Dr. Kronecker (Berlin), T. C. Fyfe, Mr. Mahler, and Jack Clark P. Marshall, C. Inglis, and P. Hannen Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Boss and W. J. P. Hodgkins Bev. Mr. Fisher and Jack Clark Dr. Kronecker, T. C. Fyfe, and Jack Clark T. C. Fyfe ascended alone ... T. C. Fyfe and G. Graham E. A. Fitzgerald and M. Zurbriggen E. A. Fitzgerald, C. L. Barrow, M. Zurbriggen, and Jack Clark 20 Feb., a it 1889. 1894. tr 1895. 1897. it Durwin Malte Brun Footstool ... Sefton Sealy 9,179 9,715 10,421 9,073 10,350 8,631 5 Jan., 22 Mar., 7 „ 31 Jan., 15 Feb., 24 Jan., 1898. 1894. 1895. tr