578 FOREST CULTURE AND 
tain over 300 kinds of this admirable tribe of plants 
to select from. 
The Proteacez of Australia and Africa might also 
be considered together, as they belong to the same 
climatic regions, and might here be reared alongside 
of each other. Professor Meissner admits nearly 250 
South African Proteaceze, among them about 60 Pro- 
teas, 50 Serrurias and 50 Leucodendrons, the latter in- 
cluding the Silvertree of the Cape. Undoubtedly this 
is a remarkable wealth of Proteacez, an order now 
only occurring in fossil forms in any part of Europe ; 
but, through my aid, and in sequence of prior re- 
searches (chiefly of R. Brown and Meissner), it has 
latterly been shown by Bentham that Australia is 
still richer in these plants, as it can pride itself on no 
less than 576 Proteaceze, among which Banksia and 
Dryandra, united, count 93 species, Petrophila and 
Isopogon together 64, Persoonia 59, Hakea 95, and 
the genus Grevillea, which is familiar to all of you, 
156 species ; 30 Grevilleas having been added by my 
independent researches, instituted chiefly in the Mel- 
bourne Botanic Garden. Is it not of far greater in- 
structiveness and importance to secure as many of 
these mostly rare and local plants for a true botanic 
garden, than to spend the same amount of exertions 
and outlay on numerous varieties of ordinary florists’ 
plants, which almost every private garden already 
possesses ? Is it not far more worthy of the objects of 
a botanic garden to gather for instance the 143 pretty 
Heath Myrtles, chiefly of West Australia, which in 
their simple beauty cannot be surpassed, than to strive 
incessantly to add hybrid flowers to those of our gar- 
den - plots, or to acquire some probably unmeaning 
