The kumara, or sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam., a member of the plant family Convolvulaceae, is cultivated for its edible swollen roots. The most important of the small array of Maori cultigens in pre-European times, it is the only one to become established in the modern New Zealand diet and is grown commercially in the Auckland Province. In the predominantly Maori communities of northern rural areas, kumara is still grown as a house-garden plant, and two groups of varieties are found – those considered to be of pre-European Maori introduction and those introduced by nineteenth century whalers. The latter, which were first planted by the Bay of Plenty Maoris, became widely distributed among northern tribes and the modern commercial types were derived from these varieties.

Maori traditions have placed the origin of the New Zealand kumara at the legendary Hawaiiki, and the time of introduction in the fourteenth century A.D. The advent of the kumara, representing the beginnings of agriculture, has been used as one of the points of separation between the two important developmental phases of Maori culture, the Archaic or Moahunter, and the Classic. Recent archaeological studies have questioned this late date for agricultural development. The discovery of pits, whose function may have been kumara storage, and dated at the time of purported introduction of the plant, infers either a very rapid development of the storage process not found in the rest of Polynesia, or an earlier date for kumara introduction. Whatever is postulated, there can be little doubt of the tropical origin of the Maori kumara. The adaptation of a plant, cultivated as a virtual perennial in the tropics, to the temperate New Zealand climate, involving an annual storage phase, constitutes one of the major achievements of early Maori agriculture. The role of the kumara in economic life is amply set out in the classic studies of Raymond Firth.

This is but a part of the story of the association between the plant and Pacific man. Early explorations of the islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, the East Indies, and the Philippines left records of the plant, some definite identifications, some doubtful. It was perhaps inevitable that much theorising on the origin of the plant and the identity of its distributors should ensue – especially with concurrent disputations on the botanical centre of origin, New or Old World. From the latter half of the nineteenth century a considerable literature on the subject has accumulated, with perhaps a peak of interest being aroused by Heyerdahl's use of kumara distribution in compiling evidence for his theory of the peopling of the Pacific from America.

Analyses of recent data from botanical, agricultural, and linguistic sources indicate the following pertinencies. The kumara is of American origin. A wild species of Ipomoea found in Mexico, on cytogenetic investigation, has proved to be more closely related to the kumara than any other species so far studied. Further, the range of variation displayed by a South American collection of varieties exceeds that found within a collection representative of Polynesian and Melanesian islands and South-East Asia. Again, the distribution in the Pacific is not the product of a single introduction and subsequent diffusion. Independent studies, one on the variation of vernacular names applied to the plant in the western Pacific, the other on plant variation already referred to, indicate that a likely explanation for distribution is a three-stream introduction from America; the first, in prehistoric times to Polynesia, followed by two early historic introductions – by the Portuguese to the East Indies, diffusing to Melanesia, and by the Spanish from their American colonies to the Philippines, from whence the plant reached mainland Asia. The possibility that the Portuguese introduction was made by a circuitous route from the Caribbean through Africa and the Indian Ocean cannot be dismissed.

The carriers of the earliest Pacific kumara, the Polynesian, remain unidentified, but the question must resolve itself into two alternatives – voyages by Polynesians to the western shores of South America, or prehistoric visits of American peoples to Polynesia. The increased activity in archaeological research of recent years may yet provide a firmer answer than the deduction on agricultural premises, which favours transfer by the Polynesians.

by Douglas Ernest Yen, M.AGR.SC., Crop Research Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Otahuhu.

• The Kumara in New Zealand: Dominion Museum Bulletin No. 9 (1925), “The Maori System of Agriculture”, Best, E.
• The Coming of the Maori, Buck, P. (1958)
• The Moahunter Period of Maori Culture, Duff, Roger (1956)
• Economics of the New Zealand Maori, Firth, R. (1959)
• Anthropology in the South Seas, Freeman, J. D., and Geddes, W. R., eds. (1959), “Culture Change in Prehistoric New Zealand”, Golson, J.
• Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 70 (1960), “The Adaptation of the Kumara by the New Zealand Maori”, Yen, D. E.
• Origin and Distribution of the New Zealand Kumara: Plants and the Migration of Pacific Peoples, Barrau, J., ed. (1963)
• The Origin of Cultivated Plants, de Candolle, A. (1959)
• American Indians in the Pacific, Heyerdahl, T. (1952)
• The Island Civilisations of Polynesia, Suggs, R. C. (1960).

(Sophora spp.).

New Zealanders know the kowhais by the plentiful yellow flowers which they bear in the spring, and these are attractive to the tui and bellbird because of the honey they contain. Trees are planted widely in parks and gardens for these reasons. There are three New Zealand species, one of them with two varieties, which are dispersed in a variety of habitats throughout New Zealand and the Chatham Islands. Two of them, S. tetraptera and S. microphylla, are trees growing to heights of 30–40 ft, and the third, S. prostrata, is a prostrate bushy shrub growing in grassland and rocky places east of the South Island Main Divide. Of the two trees, S. tetraptera has the larger leaves – they are pinnate in all species – and is confined to the North Island, while S. microphylla has smaller leaves and occurs in both islands and the Chathams. Typical habitats for these trees are forest margins, streamsides, and open places in lowland and montane areas. They both show a great deal of variation and probably hybridise where they meet. S. microphylla also hybridises with S. prostrata.

The wood is heavy, dense and strong and, when available, has been used in the past for tools and machinery and some cabinet work. Logs of sufficient size for sawing up are now rare.

There are about 30 species of Sophora in temperate and subtropical regions in both hemispheres of the world. One in Hawaii, S. polymorpha, is very similar to the New Zealand trees.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

Before 1840 Kororareka was the largest European settlement in New Zealand. Originally a watering base for the whaling ships which visited the Bay of Islands, it had developed by the 1820s into an important whaling, sealing, and mercantile centre. J. S. Polack, G. T. Clayton, W. D. Brind, and others had established trading posts there by the 1830s and supplied stores to visiting ships. Kororareka's grog shops were notorious, although their conditions were probably exaggerated by the missionaries. In 1830 a tribal fracas, now known to us as the “Girls' War”, was fought on Kororareka beach. Although the incident arose from a trifling matter, before long more than 1,400 Maoris were involved, and about 100 were killed by the time the missionaries restored order.

As there was little hope of legal redress for crimes committed in the town, for British Sovereignty had not yet been established, the inhabitants were obliged to enforce their rights in whatever way they could. On 23 May 1838 the Kororareka Association was formed, consisting of a president and committee of management elected by the local residents, with supervision over a well-defined portion of the Bay of Islands. From all accounts the association administered a summary justice on the principle that the worst of law was preferable to anarchy. Some indication of the character of its 14-article code may be drawn from the thirteenth, which ordered every member to provide himself with “a good musket, a bayonet, a brace of pistols, a cutlass, and at least sixty rounds of ball cartridge”. This, presumably, was a fair indication that the committee was prepared to back its authority to the limit.

On 29 January 1840 Hobson arrived at Kororareka. After he had negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi he established his seat of government a few miles away at Okiato, which he renamed Russell. A few months later when the seat of government was removed to Auckland, Russell was destroyed by fire, and, as Kororareka was part of the Port of Russell, it gradually assumed the latter's name. In January 1844 this change was ratified when Governor FitzRoy decreed that Kororareka should be a part of the town of Russell (see alsoBay of Islands).

In the early 1840s when the price of whale oil fell, Kororareka's prosperity declined. Fewer ships called and the local Maoris, influenced by settler malcontents, became convinced that the British Flag was responsible for all their troubles. Accordingly, on 5 June 1844, Heke cut down the flagstaff on Maiki Hill, near Kororareka. On 10 March 1845 his men sacked and burned most of Kororareka. After Heke's war a small garrison of regular troops was stationed at Russell. In 1857 when these were withdrawn, the town's population dropped to 40 and did not show any signs of significant increase until the First World War.

Modern Russell stands on the site of Kororareka, but is not the site of Russell (Okiato), Hobson's first capital.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

POPULATION: 1961 census, 569.

• Crown Colony Government in New Zealand, McLintock, A. H. (1958).

(c. 1830–93).

Maori guerilla leader and founder of the Ringatu Church.

A new biography of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Te Kooti Rikirangi was born about 1830 near Gisborne. He was a member of the Ngati Maru hapu of the Rongowhakaata subtribe of Ngati Porou, his father being Hone Rangipatahi, and his mother, Turakau. While he was not a chief by birth, Rikirangi's genealogy was illustrious by Maori standards. He was descended from Toi as well as from Kiwa, Pawa, and Toroa – the captains, respectively, of the Takitimu, Horouta, and Mataatua canoes. He was related to Ropata Wahawaha, and to Heni Mataroa, the wife of Sir James Carroll. Rikirangi was educated at the Waerenga-a-hika Mission School, near Gisborne. For a time he was a horse dealer at Gisborne. Later he sailed as supercargo on the native schooner Henry, which traded between Gisborne and Auckland. At another time he commanded a small native schooner called Rua-whetuki and traded along the coast. He subsequently claimed that he was driven out of the coastal trade by a Captain Read, then one of the principal businessmen in Gisborne, who was envious of his rival's success.

Rikirangi was present, as a Pakeha supporter, at the siege of Waerenga-a-hika pa on 19 November 1865. After this engagement he was accused of supplying the Hauhau rebels with ammunition and also of acting as their spy and advisor. His own explanation, which he gave to Sir George Grey in 1879, was that he had visited the rebel camp to persuade some of his relatives to surrender. Neither of these charges was ever proved and Rikirangi was never brought to trial. As several influential Gisborne people, including one of the local chiefs, thought Rikirangi troublesome, they had him re-arrested in March 1866 and shipped, with a group of Hauhau prisoners, to the Chatham Islands, where they were to be held pending settlement of the East Coast disturbances. While in the Napier gaol awaiting a ship to take them to the Chathams, he made several unsuccessful requests to Sir Donald McLean to be brought to trial. It is said that he was so persistent in this desire to be tried in Court that his fellow prisoners named him “Te Kooti” (pronounced “Korti”).

The prisoners went to the Chathams on the understanding that their exile would not last for more than three years. Towards the end of this period the Government repatriated several chiefs and their departure enabled Te Kooti to gain an ascendancy among those left. He contracted tuberculosis, but recovered – apparently by a miracle. He also studied the Old Testament and from it drew the tenets for his Ringatu faith. In December 1867 he announced that he had received a Divine Revelation and that he had been commanded to found a church. With this revelation and with the aid of certain sleight-of-hand tricks, Te Kooti established himself as the prisoner's leader. Because he was convinced that the Government had no intention of releasing them, Te Kooti planned to escape. On 4 July 1868 the prisoners captured the Rifleman in a bloodless coup and forced its crew to carry them to New Zealand.

On 10 July they were landed at Whareongaonga, a few miles south of Poverty Bay. As soon as news of their landing reached Gisborne, Major Biggs, commandant of the Poverty Bay district, sent a small party to request their surrender. Te Kooti refused and announced his intention of leading his party to the Waikato. A small force sent to arrest the prisoners was beaten off and, on 8 August, a larger force, commanded by Colonel Whitmore, fought a fierce but unsuccessful action with Te Kooti's rearguard in the Ruakituri Gorge. After each of the first two engagements Te Kooti wrote to the Government asking to be left alone, but after the third he intimated that, as the Government desired war, he would begin it in November. Te Kooti gathered his forces at Puketapu pa and, because he was embittered by his earlier treatment and annoyed by the Government's efforts to hunt him down, he decided to show the authorities that he was not to be trifled with. Accordingly, in the early hours of 10 November 1868 he descended upon Matawhero, where his men killed 33 Europeans and 37 friendly Maoris. Government forces pursued him to Makaretu, where, after a fierce battle, Te Kooti entrenched himself on Ngatapa hill. Whitmore attacked him there on 31 December 1869 and, after a three-day siege, Te Kooti escaped into the Urewera bush with a remnant of his force. On this occasion Ropata, whose antipathy towards his adversary amounted to a personal vendetta, had 120 Ngatapa prisoners summarily executed. In March 1869 Te Kooti raided the Whakatane district and, on 10 April, attacked Mohaka (near Wairoa). In May Whitmore led a strong force into Ruatahuna, but Te Kooti escaped and on 7 June 1869 defeated a volunteer force at Opepe near Taupo. He then carried on a remarkable campaign around Lake Taupo, which concluded in October 1869 when a large Government force captured Te Porere pa. Te Kooti escaped into the King Country. He visited Matamata in January 1870, where J. C. Firth, a prominent settler in the district, interviewed him and urged him to surrender. Te Kooti refused, saying, “If they let me alone I will live quietly; if not I will fight”.

After Te Porere, Te Kooti was forced on the defensive and his battles often became running fights with his pursuers. There was such an engagement at Tapapa (24 January 1870), and after this he planned a raid on Rotorua. This was prevented by Captain Gilbert Mair, and Te Kooti retreated into the Urewera country. For the next two years he eluded his pursuers and, from bases near Matawai and in the Te Wera district, he continued to launch lightning attacks against the East Coast tribes. In 1871 the Ngati Porou, under Ropata, systematically searched the Te Wera district, but Te Kooti escaped into the forests around Lake Waikaremoana. He was always closely pursued, and in 1872, after a series of bush engagements with Government troops, he reached the King Country, where the pursuit was abandoned.

Te Kooti settled at Tokangamutu, near Te Kuiti, where he lived under Tawhiao's protection and where he was joined by members of his band. He devoted the remainder of his life to propagating the Ringatu faith. In 1878 he attended the great meeting at Te Kopua when Sir George Grey met Tawhiao. In May 1879, when the proposal to issue a general amnesty to those involved in the Maori Wars was being considered, Te Kooti's case caused the Government serious disquiet. Whitmore, then Colonial Secretary, advised Grey “that Te Kooti must be considered a political offender. It is true he … caused these crimes to be committed but he did so in fair war and did not contravene Maori custom in war”. The issue of the amnesty was delayed until 1883, by which time Bryce, the new Native Minister, had interviewed Te Kooti and secured his promise not to take up arms again.

In 1887 Te Kooti visited the Bay of Plenty. He planned to visit Gisborne in 1889, but was dissuaded by Sir H. A. Atkinson after the settlers, reinforced by Ropata and his Ngati Porou, stood to arms in protest. He later visited Wairoa and Napier. In 1891 the Government granted him land at Ohiwa in the Bay of Plenty district and he died there on 17 April 1893.

Te Kooti was about 5 ft 9 in. in height, possessed regular aquiline features, and was not tattooed. He sported a small pointed beard. Europeans who met him often professed to be shocked when they realised that the mild-mannered man before them had planned the deeds associated with his name. The attack on Matawhero, intended partly for a traditional Maori utu (revenge for past wrongs) and partly to show the Government that he was not to be trifled with, transformed Te Kooti into a legend. His guerilla campaigns were carefully planned and ruthlessly executed. Time and again he proved that he was more than a match for the best colonial forces. As a warrior Te Kooti was not as bloodthirsty as Titokowaru, for he refused to allow his people to indulge in cannibalism or to practise the traditional mutilations of their dead enemies. Modern research tends to support Te Kooti's assertion that his wars arose out of his claim for justice.

by Walter Hugh Ross, Journalist, Taupo and Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• MA. 23/8–9 MSS, National Archives
• The New Zealand Wars, Cowan, J. (1955–56)
• Early Days of Poverty Bay, Porter, T. W. R. (1923).

Kokopu (Galaxias fasciatus) is a sluggish native fish found under stones and around sunken logs in most “bush-type” streams throughout New Zealand. It is dull brown, variously marked when adult with undulating pale streaks, especially towards the tail (hence often called the “banded galaxias”). They grow to about a foot in length and lack scales. The “giant galaxias” (G. alepichotus) is a related species, blackish in colour with distinct horseshoe markings, which may grow to 18 in. in length.

Sometimes the banded and giant galaxias are called “native trout”, but they are not related to trout and the former names are more appropriate.

by Lawrence James Paul, B.SC., Fisheries Division, Marine Department, Wellington.

Commonly called the native crow, the kokako does not belong to the crow family, but is, instead, a member of a family of birds peculiar to New Zealand, the Callaeidae, or wattle birds. This family also includes the huia and saddleback.

There are two races of kokako, Callaeas cinerea wilsoni, the blue-wattled kokako, which occurs in the North Island, and Callaeas cinerea cinerea, the orange-wattled kokako inhabiting the South Island and Stewart Island. Apart from the colour of the wattles, which are fleshy lobes hanging from each corner of the mouth, both races are alike in appearance, except that the South Island bird is slightly smaller. Kokako are about intermediate in size between a European blackbird and an Australian magpie, have a predominantly dark-bluish-grey plumage tinged with brown, a jet-black face, and a short, blunt, black bill which is strongly arched. The wings are relatively short, flight is feeble, and the birds progress mainly by a series of bounds on their long black legs. The calls and song are varied and rich and bear some resemblance to the more musical notes of the tui, but are slower, deeper, and richer. A sonorous tolling note and a catlike mewing are especially characteristic.

Food consists of the leaves and fruits of a number of native trees and shrubs. While feeding, the kokako holds leaves and berries in one claw, parrot fashion. Insects are eaten, too. Breeding occurs from November to January. Nests are built in tall shrubs or trees at a height of about 10 ft or more from the ground and consist of a structure of twigs about 18 in. or more across, in the centre of which is a cup-shaped depression of moss and grass some 6 in. in diameter and lined with tree-fern scales. Two or three stone-coloured eggs blotched with dark brown are laid and are incubated by both parents.

The North Island kokako, although much less common than formerly, is occasionally recorded from a number of localities – the Hunua Ranges, Rotorua lakes district, western Urewera, Bay of Plenty, East Cape district, Coromandel Ranges, Northland, and inland Taranaki.

The South Island kokako, though once locally common, is now very rare and there are few reliable recent records either from the South Island or Stewart Island.

The Callaeidae are typically birds of the tall native forests.

by Gordon Roy Williams, B.SC.(HONS.)(SYDNEY), Lecturer in Agricultural Zoology, Lincoln Agricultural College.

(1812–94).

Maori leader.

A new biography of Kohere, Mokena appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Mokena Kohere was descended from a line of fighting chiefs of the Ngati Hokopu hapu of Ngati Porou. His father, Pakura, was killed in one of the battles between Ngati Porou and Whanau-a-Apanui. Although old enough to fight in this intertribal war, Kohere is not heard of until after the death of his elder brother, Kakatarau. He is mentioned as a leading wheatgrower and owner of one of the east coast schooners trading to Auckland. Kohere opposed both the “King” movement and the Hauhaus. He was prominent in the defeat of the Hauhaus at Kairomiromi, and, later, at Hungahungatoroa he averted a battle which would have cost the lives of many Ngati Porou converts to Hauhauism. He eventually won most of these back to the loyalist side and prevented the confiscation of Ngati Porou lands by the Government.

In 1872 Kohere was appointed to the Legislative Council, where he sat until 1887. He died on 4 March 1894 and is buried at Rangitukia.

by John March Booth, M.A., DIP.ANTHR.(LOND.), Secretary, New Zealand Maori Council, and the Polynesian Society, Wellington.

• The Story of a Maori Chief, Kohere, R. T. (1949).

(Dysoxylum spectabile).

This is one of the most handsome New Zealand hardwood trees and is representative of a typical semitropical and tropical family and genus. Some of the mahoganies belong to the family. It occurs in coastal and lowland forest from near the North Cape to about Banks Peninsula on the east coast of the South Island. Its most typical habitats are the coastal forests of the North Island in which it often occurs in small pure stands. Kohekohe is a medium-sized tree usually 30–40 ft in height, with a trunk 1–3 ft in diameter. Where space allows, it has a large crown of spreading branches. The leaves are pinnate, up to 18 in. long, and consist of three to four pairs of ovate leaves. A feature of the tree is the panicles of sweet-scented, waxy white flowers which grow out from the trunk and larger branches. This is one of the few New Zealand trees which flower from the stems in such a manner: cauliflore, as it is called, is more typical of trees growing in the tropics. The flowers develop into an ovoid capsule about 1 in. long.

The wood is light and straight-grained, and pale red in colour when seasoned. It is occasionally used for cabinetmaking, but supplies of timber are irregular and limited.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

(1808–91).

Auditor-General.

A new biography of Knight, Charles appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Charles Knight was born in 1808 at Rye, Sussex, the youngest son of James Knight, who died shortly after his son's birth. His mother re-married and he was brought up by his stepfather. Knight graduated in medicine from Guy's Hospital, London, and afterwards visited Canada and the United States. On his return to England he decided to emigrate to Australia where his brother, William, had preceded him. In 1841 he sailed as surgeon on the Lord Glenelg which was carrying Grey out to assume the government of South Australia. Shortly after his arrival Grey gave him a position in the Colonial Secretary's Department where he became responsible for compiling the Government Blue Books and other statistical material required by the home authorities. Knight was interested in botany and accompanied the Governor on several of his explorations into the interior. In 1845, because of his experience of government finance and official routine, Grey brought him to New Zealand where he became Auditor-General in February 1846. This position terminated with the granting of responsible government, and in 1856 Knight was appointed to manage the Colonial Bank of Issue. In 1858 he returned to his position as Auditor to the General Government. He investigated the charges against Macandrew in 1861; and, two years later, sat on the Commission concerned with the development of flax processing. For a short time after the capital had moved to Wellington in 1865, Knight remained in Auckland as the General Government Agent. He was chairman of the Commission on the Civil Service (1866); and in 1867 brought the Post Office money-order and savings bank scheme into operation. In 1869 he accompanied Vogel to Australia to negotiate the mail and customs agreement; and on his return became a member of the Board of Advice set up by the Government Annuities Act. He was appointed Auditor-General in 1871 and, two years later, a Commissioner of the Board of Audit – which position he shared with J. E. FitzGerald. In 1878 he retired from the Government service and lived in Wellington until his death on 3 September 1891.

In his day Knight was well known as a botanist – his specialty being lichens. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society, of the New Zealand Institute, and president of the Wellington Philosophical Society.

In 1844, at Adelaide, South Australia, Knight married Caroline Symes. He left two sons and three daughters.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Evening Post, 3 Sep 1891 (Obit)
• New Zealand Times, 4 Sep 1891 (Obit).

These are birds belonging to the order Apterygiformes which occurs only in New Zealand. With moas they are among our most ancient birds and have probably been present in New Zealand since before the end of the Cretaceous period, about 70 million years ago, after which time connections with large land masses beyond New Zealand ceased to exist. Both kiwis and moas are Ratite birds – possessing no keel on the breastbone, or sternum, and are unable to fly. No extinct species of kiwi is known. The three recent species are: the common kiwi, Apteryx australis, with three races, one each in North, South, and Stewart Islands; the little spotted kiwi, A. oweni, now found along the whole of the western side of the South Island; and the great spotted kiwi, A. haasti, which occurs from western Nelson to about mid-Westland.

Kiwis stand about a foot high and have a long tapering and flexible bill, longer in the female than in the male, with nostrils at its tip. Their feathers are loose, shaggy, and rather hairlike, and their colour is brown or greyish with dark streaks or spots. The plumage of the sexes is alike; there is no tail. Legs and toes are very powerful. The call of the male is a plaintive disyllabic shriek of kee-wee; that of the female, a lower hoarser cry. There are, however, minor differences between the calls of the various species and races. Nests are made in crevices or burrows, and the clutch is of one or two white eggs, each weighing about a pound. These are perhaps the largest eggs, proportionately, of any bird. Incubation is carried out mainly by the male and takes about 11 weeks. Kiwis are semi-nocturnal; they inhabit forest and semi-pastoral lands. Though commonly believed to be rare and verging on extinction, they are in fact still present in fair numbers in those large expanses of native forest still remaining, and they even show signs of adapting themselves to the fringes of farmed areas.

Food consists of worms, grubs, insects, and berries and it is assumed that in kiwis the sense of smell is important in finding food. In all other birds the olfactory sense is poorly developed.

by Gordon Roy Williams, B.SC.(HONS.)(SYDNEY), Lecturer in Agricultural Zoology, Lincoln Agricultural College.