Annual Report. 321 



aided and attended to by proprietors of farms or gardens ; and 

 thus may the cultivations of native plants, and the introduction 

 of useful exotics, be encouraged and extended. But the Associa- 

 tion may aim at the higher and more useful object of having an 

 experimental and systematic garden of its own. The Council 

 have the pleasure of announcing that the co-operation of its 

 Patron may be relied on for the attainment of this most desired 

 object, and that the requisite accommodation as to ground and 

 water may be obtained on the most favorable circumstances. 

 Considering the interest generally felt in this matter, and the 

 extensive gratuitous aid which would undoubtedly be received 

 from Members and others, the Council do not see any great 

 obstacle in making a beneficial commencement. The funds of 

 the Institution would even now admit of the dedication of a small 

 sum to the purpose, and we have the prospect of being able to 

 afford, annually, as much as with the zealous co-operation of our 

 Members, would preserve it in order. It is conceived, there- 

 fore, that by adopting a scale proportioned to our means, and 

 trusting to the perseverance and liberality of our Members, a 

 very useful, though it may not be a very imposing, establishment, 

 may be attained. We have evidence that such an institution 

 was commenced here before, and that at all times different 

 Governors were in the habit of planting in the Government 

 Gardens any curious plants which they had procured; and as 

 they had greater opportunifies of making such acquisitions than 

 others, the grounds generally included, as t.hey do now, a con- 

 siderable variety of interesting objects. Several, however, which 

 formerly existed there seem to have disappeared, from theij* 

 having been no systematic agency for attending to them. In 

 earlier periods, as was to be expected, the Government took an 

 active share in the measures necessary for introducing and 

 Establishing many of the important species now cultivated, and 

 it is evident that this object, necessary to the improvement of the 

 colony, must have been much facilitated by the opportune recep- 

 tacle prepared for them in the gardens. The Institution may be 

 assured that little else is required but such a receptacle, which 

 for its preparation, security, and maintenance, might require a 

 considerable original and continued effort ; but eventually, as is 

 detailed iu a communication read at the commencement of our 

 sittings, every other requisite would pour in from the donations 

 of many who are anxious to have such means of rendering their 

 acquisitions useful, and from the exchanges which we should 

 have ample opportunities of effecting. The Council would, 

 therefore, eagerly anticipate such exertions from the Institu- 

 tion, and such aid from those who are inclined to favor the 

 scheme, as may lead to the early formation of an efficient fund 

 for it, and to the ultimate establishment of a repository, so much 

 beyond all other collections of nature's grand and lovely efforts ; 

 as there every object stands where it loves most to display its 



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