Bringing plants to New Zealand

When the great wave of settlement began in the 1840s, many little books of hints for intending emigrants were produced by enterprising British printers. One of these, The Emigrant's Friend, published by Mr Allen of Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row, London, contained some sage advice concerning the carriage of plant material to the new country.

'Plants and Seeds may be procured at all the colonies,' it said, 'but if you desire to take any from England . . . ' and proceeded to give advice on packing these items. It recommended wrapping seeds in tinfoil, anticipating what many seed-merchants do today, but then went somewhat further with the following rather startling advice: to take a small barrel, line the bottom with moist sugar, then lay on some packets of seeds, then more sugar, then more seed packets, and so forth until the barrel was full, when it should be covered. 'In this way,' it said, 'seeds will keep during the longest voyage.' The sights and smells that must have greeted some of the settlers on opening their little barrels at the other end must have been breathtaking, if not at times intoxicating.

It was suggested that tuberous roots be packed in dry bran, which seems sensible enough. For living material the book recommended wrapping up the roots in moss— which was probably how snails, earthworms and other soil organisms arrived in New Zealand—and then packing them tightly into a box. Similarly, cuttings were to be packed into a box of wet earth, covered with moss between the stems; a glass lid was to be put over the box, and one small ventilation hole left near the bottom to remove excess moisture. It seems amazing that so much agricultural and horticultural material arrived in the country, along with its unwitting load of stowaways, in this makeshift but obviously practical way.