1915] 



HILL BOTANIC GARDENS 215 



These Gardens occupy the site of the Government Garden 

 established in 1788, and here the first exotic plants were in- 

 stalled in the same year. Owing to the great demand for New 

 Holland plants, due largely to the interest taken in them by 

 Sir Joseph Banks, a vigorous exchange in plants soon grew 

 up between the Sydney Gardens and the outside world, to the 

 great profit of the institution, which appears to have been 

 definitely founded as a botanic garden in the year 1816. 



Sydney is now fully equipped for botanical work with its 

 renowned Botanic Gardens, its university department of 

 botany, and museum. 



Other well-furnished botanic gardens are to be found at 

 Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart, and Tasmania; at 

 Melbourne and Adelaide their value is enhanced by associa- 

 tion with the botanical departments of the universities. 



Flourishing botanic gardens are also established in New 

 Zealand, at Wellington, Dunedin, Napier and Christchurch. 1 



Before leaving the subject of botanic gardens in British 

 Dominions, mention must be made of the foundation only last 

 year (1913) of the National Botanic Garden of South Africa, at 

 Kirstenbosch, 2 which, though the most recent of such gardens, 

 bids fair to take a place in the front rank of the botanic 

 gardens of the world, both on account of the admirable nature 

 of the site and the remarkable character of the South African 

 flora. The predecessor of this garden was the Cape Town 

 Botanic Garden, founded in 1848, which became the Municipal 

 Garden of Cape Town in 1892, after a somewhat chequered 



career. 3 



The Municipal Gardens at Durban, Natal, established in 

 1853 as the Natal Botanic Garden, have played an important 

 part in botanical enterprise in South Africa and at no time 

 more than under the directorship of Dr. J. Medley "Wood. It 



1 The Botanic Gardens at Hong Kong with their herbarium form a valuable 

 center for Asiatic botany, nor must the Gardens at Tokyo and other important 

 Japanese centers of botanical activity be omitted. Botanic gardens have been 

 established also in Fiji, Seychelles, Mauritius, etc. 



»Kew Bull. Misc. Inf. 1913: pp. 309-314, and p. 373. 1913; Nature 93: 

 190-191. 1914. 



•Kew Bull. Misc. Inf. 1892: 10-14. 1892. 



