olens_ of botany.

The immediate neighborhood of Auckland has been almost denuded of the
original native trees, and shade is very much needed both for beauty and
comfort. Fires and the woodman's axe have swept away the grand old
forest and the "bush" which once covered every rod of land in this
vicinity. A few English oaks and other imported trees planted by the
immigrants are to be seen, besides some California pines, which are
universal favorites in this country. At a short distance inland, and
especially bordering salt-water inlets, the traveller is surprised and
charmed by groups of the pohutukawa, a tree thus named by the Maoris.
Like many other blossoming trees of the Southern Pacific, its flowers
when gathered have very little individual beauty or attractiveness, its
brilliant color-effect being derived from the clusters of bright scarlet
stamens, which when seen in mass upon the tree appear strikingly
beautiful.

We do not remember to have seen the English lark in any island south of
the Equator, but they abound here, and must have been introduced by the
early settlers from Great Britain.

Another fact about Auckland struck us as curious. Here we find a rich
greensward carpeting hill and dale, field and lawn, which is the growth
of imported seed, and which has proved so tenacious as to root out all
original and opposing vegetation, and establish itself permanently. Here
also may be seen the European thistle, the veritable Scotch article
greatly improved by transplanting. The farmers declare that it enriches
the ground,--a sentiment which we also heard expressed at Dunedin,--and
every one can see for himself that it feeds the bees. New Zealand seems
to be adapted for receiving into its bosom the vegetation of any land,
and of imparting to it renewed life and added beauty. Its foster-mother
capacity has been fully tested, and for years no ship left England for
this part of the world without bringing more or less of a contribution
in plants and trees to be propagated in the new home of the colonists.
The consequence is that we find pines and cypresses, oaks and willows,
elms and birches, besides fruit-trees of all sorts grown in Europe,
thriving here in abundance, and so thoroughly acclimated as to seem
indigenous.

The climate of this region appeared to us very nearly perfect, favoring
human life as well as that of the vegetable kingdom. It may be compared
as a whole to the climate of the best portions of Euro