375 
traditions of the past, clearly demand from us. It is true that 
botanical exploration has not been allowed to die, but for this we must 
thank individuals—the few whose names will justly occupy promi- 
nent positions in the history of South African Botany, whose work 
has been ably supported and supplemented by the many working 
in quiet isolation, seeking and receiving no reward, stimulated 
only by a keen interest in the plants among which they live, who 
what has been and still is lacking is the concentrated and organised 
effort which has its inspiration in a National institution. A South 
hardly be doubted, but apart from these, an educated community 
must recognise that it is its duty to know the country in which it 
lives 
“Closely connected with this subject is the cultivation of in- 
digenous plants. It may fairly be said that no other part, of the 
earth’s surface offers so great an array of forms of scientific and 
horticultural importance which lend themselves to inexpensive and 
effective treatment in a limited space. More than one of the 
authorities previously quoted have referred to the lack of interest 
shown in the native flora. People say, no doubt with much truth, 
that Cape plants are difficult to grow ; but the fact remains that a 
large number of them, and these by no means the most attractive, 
have at one time or another been successfully cultivated in Europe ; 
Vienna, and elsewhere in Europe, a greater variety of South 
African plants than in the gardens of the Cape itself. 
of visitors touch at Cape ports, especially at Cape Town, during the 
year. They enquire times without number ‘ Where can we see the 
Heaths, the Proteas, the Orchids, the succulents, the bulbs and 
other constituents of the vegetation for which South Africa is 
famous the world over?’ They are told ‘You must climb Table 
18086 B2 
