Volume 9 Number g 



The Plant World 



a iflaffa^inc of popular -^Sotanp 

 SEPTMBER, 1906 



THE HOPE BOTANICAL GARDENS. 



By Forrest Shreve, PhD. 

 The Jl'ninan's College of Baltimore. 



No counti'}' twenty times its size can boast as many botanical 

 gardens as does the island of Jamaica. Of the six which are to 

 be found within its narrow borders, one — that at Bath — is now 

 neglected although not uninteresting, and two, — the Parade Gar- 

 den and the King's House grounds, — are primarily show gardens 

 and parks. The other three combine the uses of ornament, scien- 

 tific interest and practical helpfulness. Hope Gardens are situ- 

 ated near Kingston in the drv Liguanea Plain ; Castleton Gardens 

 are at a low elevation in the moist hills of the north side ; and the 

 Hill Garden at Cinchona is at a temperate altitude in the Blue 

 Mountains. The happy choice of these locations renders possible 

 the growing of plants from almost every region of the tropics or 

 warm temperate zones, and the visiting botanist is treated to the 

 sight of the palms and screw-pines of the East Indies, the eucalypti 

 and grevilleas of Australia, the water-lilies of the Amazon, the 

 rhododendrons of the Himalayas and the cacti of America. 



As early as 1775 the Jamaican government began to lend aid 

 to a private garden at Gordontown, near Hope, and ever since 

 that date there has been a more or less intimate association of the 

 ideals of botanical science and agricultural practice in the devel- 

 opment of the public gardens of the island, which has been in no 

 small measure due to the fostering influence of the Royal Gar- 



