406 
The foundation of this herbarium, he pointed out, has been 
preceded by three others. The first was the Natal Herbarium 
which was built up by Dr. Medley Wood, then came the magnifi- 
cent Bolus collection at Cape Town, now belonging to the Cape 
University, which was made by one who had devoted his ability 
and time to botanical collection and research, while the third 
wa at C 
these specimens were referred to in the earlier volumes of the 
Flora Capensis. 
The herbarium which he was about to open was, he said, 
the youngest since the Boer War. The man who started it was 
Mr. Burtt Davy, ably assisted by Mrs. Sydney Stent. On the 
whole, though he would not say this collection was as great or 
notable as some of the others, it was already a magnificent one 
containing well over 35,000 named and mounted specimens. 
Not only was it a phanerogamic collection but there was also a 
collection of cryptogams containing the best collection of South 
African fungi in existence. This collection consists of over 
25,000 specimens, and to it will be added Dr. Sim’s fine collection 
from Natal. 
Referring to the Botanical Survey, General Smuts said that 
this was not only of extreme importance, but afforded in many 
respects an example to other countries. This Survey was 
presided over by Dr. Pole-Evans, and its success was largely 
due to his energy and ability. 
The Herbarium was an encyclopaedia, the store-room and 
the laboratory of a botanist, and no progress could be made in 
botany unless they had a first-class herbarium. 
ter referring to many interesting points in connection with 
the flora of the Cape Region, General Smuts pointed out that 
it was quite possible that proper and intensive study of the 
botany of South Africa would throw light on many of the great 
problems that were puzzling the botanists of the world. 
Proceeding, he emphasised the fact that if they wanted to 
know properly the botany of South Africa they would have to 
review the botany of the African Continent as a whole... “ You 
want a Kew”, he said, “What Kew is to England and the 
British Empire, this national herbarium must be to South Africa. 
You want here a herbarium to which you can bring together 
all that vast material of the African Continent which will enable 
you to see the plant distribution of the whole continent, and 
then only will you be able to answer some of the questions of the 
ast.” 
In referring to South Africa’s need of a Kew, General Smuts, 
as reported, made no allusion to the “ botanic garden” side 
of Kew which is already in existence in the National Botanic — 
Garden at Kirstenbosch. It is quite true, as he so ably points 
out, that a comprehensive herbarium is essential to our know- 
ledge of the flora of a country, but the garden side where the 
living plant can be studied is of equal importance. It is therefore 
