138 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Botanic Garden. — Industrial School. — Museum. 

 — Meteorology. 



In a new colony like Fiji, a Botanic Garden would 

 be of the greatest importance and utility, indepen- 

 dently of the knowledge of botany as a science, and 

 the taste for plant culture which, it would foster and 

 diffuse in the colony. It would be highly popular 

 with the settlers, and the subject has frequently been 

 mentioned with approval at the meetings of the Eiji 

 Agricultural Association. No information has yet 

 been obtained as to what action the Government of 

 the colony have taken on the subject. 



The introduction of many useful plants into Fiji 

 has been suggested, and the desirableness of having a 

 suitable place for planting them need scarcely be 

 alluded to. In it the plants would be properly grown 

 and propagated, and distributed from it to the inha- 

 bitants in all parts of the colony. From practical 

 observation the settlers and natives would become 

 familiar with the treatment or field cultivation which 

 different kinds of plants required, and the preparation 

 of the produce for the market. It would|be the duty 

 of the Director or Manager to spread throughout the 

 colony all the information he possessed or could obtain 



in the besl sources as to the nature of the plants, 

 land of soil, and treatment or culture which they 

 required. Reliable practical information on tropical 

 cultivation La much needed in Fiji. Most of the 

 settlers know aexl to nothing about the husbandry of 



