586 president's address. 



sterile ground amidst high sandstone rocks since X visited the Bay last year. 

 . . . . As there were several plants of [Calostemma album] in the garden, 

 where it periodically puts forth its small white flowers, Mr. Macleay presented 

 me with four bulbs for Kew, so that the royal gardens will soon boast of possess- 

 ing a fourth species of this genus, so nearly related to Pancratium. [Hooker's 

 London Journal of Botany, Vol. i., p. 126.] 



Dr. George Bennett visited Sydney in 1829, and a second time, in August, 

 1832. Shortly after he journeyed to Elizabeth Bay, of which he says: — "In 

 company with my friend, Lieutenant Bretoa, R.N., I visited Elizabeth Bay, about 

 two miles distant from Sydney, and the property of the Honourable Alexander 

 Macleay. The situation is beautiful, being in a retired bay or cove of Port Jack- 

 son, and the garden and farm is near the sea. This spot, naturally of the most 

 sterile description, has been rendered, at a great expense and perseverance, in some 

 degree productive as a nursery for rare trees, shrubs, and plants, from all parts 

 of the world. We were much gratified with the valuable and rare specimens the 

 garden contained, and surjjrised that a spot possessed of no natural advantages 

 should have been rendered, comparatively, a little paradise. In the garden, a 

 species of cactus was pointed eut to me by the gardener, Mr. Henderson, which 

 Mr. Macleay had brought some years ago from Rio Janeiro." Then follow par- 

 ticulars of the teratological fruits of this plant. [Wanderings in New South 

 Wales, &e.. Vol. i., p. 71 (1834)]. 



James Backhouse, the Quaker missionary, in his "Narrative of a Visit to 

 the Australian Colonies" (1843), thus describes his experience: "January 15th, 

 1835 — We [including his colleagues, D. and C. Wheeler, and G. W. Walker] 

 walked to Elizabeth Bay, and met the Colonial Secretary, at his beautiful garden, 

 which is formed on a rocky slope, on the margin of Port Jackson, of which it 

 commands a fine \'iew. Here are cultivated, specimens of many of the interesting 

 trees and shrubs of this Colony, along with others from various parts of the world, 

 intermixed with some growing in their native localities. . . . The walks at 

 this place are judiciously accommodated to the inequalities of the sinuous l)ay, 

 and are continued round a point covered with native bush. Peaches are ripe in 

 the open ground in abundance, and liberty to partake of them freely was kindly 

 given, by the open-hearted proprietor. Dendrobhim speciosum and D. linguiforme, 

 remarkable plants of the Orchis tribe, are wild here, upon the rocks, and 7>. tetra- 

 gonnm. is naturalised on a branch of Avicennia to meat of: a, covered with oyster- 

 shells, and suspended in a tree near the shore. A fine patch of the Elks-liorn 

 Fern, Acrosticum alciconie, retains its native station on a rocky point in the 

 garden" [p. 239]. 



Returning now to the family records relating to the garden, one of the two 

 books already mentioned, has, on the title-page, the entry "Plants received at 

 Elizabetli Bay." The watermark of the paper of this book is 1833. The first 

 four entries are not dated. The first of these is a list of thirty-three species, in- 

 cluding four of Magnolia, and six varieties of Camellia japonica, received from 

 the Messrs. Loddige, of Hackney, the well-known nurserymen of that time. — No. 2, 

 three species of Diplarrlwena morea and Sarcochilus falcatus, from Van Dieman's 

 Land; and Alsophila aii-'^traHs from Norfolk Island, received from Mr. J. Back-_ 

 house, whose visit to Australia lasted from 1832 to 1838. — No. 3. twelve species, 

 from Jlessrs. Loddige. — No. 4, eighteen species (two unnamed), from Mr. W. 

 Macarthur, Camden. — No. 5. (itii Ai)ril. 1836. four species, also from Mr. W. 



