158 FOUNDATION AND EARLY WOKK 



R.S. TAS. 



favour as a resort of the public. In those days visitors 

 signed their names in a book at the entrance, and there 

 was consequently some record of their number. In 1847, 

 there were 2,287 visitors; in 1850, 9,191; in 1853, 12,635; 

 in 1856, 13,251; in 1859, 15,725; in 1863, 20,488; in 

 addition to many names not entered on days when the 

 band of the regiment in garrison played in the Gardens. 



The pond in the Gardens was made in 1848, and saved 

 much expense for water, which previously had been carted 

 from the town. 



In 1854, the Government grant for the Gardens was 

 increased to £600; in 1863 it was reduced: to £550, and 

 in 1867 to £400; in 1877 it was raised to £600; in 1880 

 it was reduced to £450; and in 1881 raised again to £600. 



The Annual Reports record the introduction of many 

 new varieties of fruits, grains, and grasses. In 1847, 28 

 new kinds of apples were introduced; and the Papers and 

 Proceedings ibr 1854 (Volume ii., p. 485) record a list of 

 42 varieties of apples submitted for the opinion of mem- 

 bers. The Reports for 1846 and 1854 mention the intro- 

 duction of new pasture grasses; and in the Report for 1860 

 is published a. list of grasses adapted for agricultural pur- 

 poses, then cultivated in the Gardens. 



The area of the Gardens, originally about 12 acres, was 

 gradually enlarged, until in 1856 over 20 acres were in cul- 

 tivation. 



In 1857 a catalogue of the plants growing in the Gardens 

 was published. The Report for 1858 contains a supple- 

 mentary list; and lists of plants introduced each year are 

 published in the Annual Repo'rts. 



In 1859, Mr. Francis Abbott, jun. (a son of Francis 

 Abbott, F.R.A.S., whose meteorological observations were 

 published by the Society) was appointed Superintendent. 

 Mr. Abbott had been apprenticed in the Gardens in 1850. 

 He remained Superintendent until his death in 1903. 



In the straitened circumstances of the Society in the 

 early sixties, the Society had some difficulty in maintain- 

 ing the various brances of its work, but the Council con- 

 sidered that the Gardens must not be allowed to suffer. 

 An extract from the Report for 1862, p. 19, is of some in- 

 terest, as showing that Tasmania was already becoming a 

 sVimmer resort : 



"The Society has ever felt that, irrespective of their 

 "great scientific value, it was a duty in reference to the 

 /'more immediate interests of Hobart Town and the Colony 

 "generally, to keep the Gardens in such order as should 



