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the sugar cane, coffee, tea, cinchona, cacoa, and other 

 products of the tropics. The consequence is that 

 large sums are spent on worthless experiments, or in 

 working out useless theories, and not unfrequently 

 on fanciful and absurd notions. This want of prac- 

 tical knowledge among the settlers has been the ruin 

 of Fiji from an agricultural point of view. Nor is the 

 Government of the colony, in agricultural and foresting 

 matters, in a better position than the settlers. All 

 are groping in the dark, and the want of a living 

 reliable authority, to whom all could refer and obtain 

 good practical information, is very much felt. Indeed 

 the date of supplying this want will mark a new era 

 in the agricultural condition of the colony, since a 

 supply of labour to work the fields has been secured, 

 and can now be depended upon. 



A Botanic Garden might be established on a small 

 scale, as a nursery at first, and be extended and 

 beautified as the colony increased in prosperity, and 

 became able to support] one, such as that in Ceylon, 

 Mauritius, Trinidad, &c. This ultimate increase should 

 be kept in view from the beginning, and the means 

 of attaining it, proportionate to the resources and 

 needs of the colony, carefully considered, laid down, 

 and intelligently worked up to. A considerable area, 

 about 30 acres, would ultimately be required as nursery 

 ground, on which to rear young plants for distribution 

 to the inhabitants, and for planting in the forests. 

 Besides this, space for the growth of fruit, spice, 

 timber, and caoutchouc trees, &c, would require to 

 be provided, in order that seeds might be obtained in 

 quantity sufficient to meet all future demands. Park- 

 like space would best answer this purpose, and it 

 would most easily be kept. In addition to these, it 



