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with the various objects of Natural History found in piiljlic gardens 

 and museums establish(3d in every part of tlxe kingdom. Tiiat this is the 

 case was shown by the ahnost universal custom of wearing floweis, 

 making collections of Natural Histor}'^ speci'nens, or having pets of 

 various kinds in the houses. "While in England, however, ! paid most at- 

 tention to my own branch of science, and to botany will chiefly direct 

 your attention to-nigh t. To-day in every part of the world except Canada 

 Botanic Gardens have been established. Economic and other museums 

 have been called into existence and the natural vegetable products of 

 the various countries are e.xhibited under the sanve roof. Many visits 

 to the Royal Gardens at Kew, near London ; to the Botanic Gardens at 

 Birmingham and at Dublin, convinced rae that the present movement 

 to establish experimental farms in Canada was a ste[) in the right direc- 

 tion; but the cultivation of our native trees, shrubs and herbaceous 

 plants should be considered of equal importance and receive special and 

 prompt attention. In all of the gardens mentioned the native ])Iants of 

 each order are planted according tj their relationships, and students 

 and others can obtain a great deal of useful information without much 

 labour or loss of time. When walking with botanists and others 

 through the arboretums in England and Ireland I had to make the 

 humiliating confession that in Canada we had no such thing, and that 

 very few of our p oj)le knew one tree from another. You may think 

 this unfair, but how many of us could tell the names of one quarter of 

 the 65 species of trees growing without cultivation in Ontario. Besides 

 the Botanic Gardens nearly every city his an Economic Museum in 

 which are exhibited the variovis products used in the arts ; also the 

 fruits, seeds, leaves, bark and wood of the native 8hrul)s and trees, 

 besides those of other countries. 



Before I left for England I was told that a collection of small 

 billets of wood was of littla moment, and that our collection of birds 

 woidd only cause laughter in the Biitish Museum, where all these were 

 represented. But what were the facts'? When our 108 s[iecies of 

 native trees were contrasted with 1 4 British species, and our magni- 

 ficent display of game and other biids Avas studied by men who had 

 visited every clime, a unanimous verdict was given in our favour. 



