476 THE LAST YEAKS 



Pearson, now at the Cape, whether he had come across thi 

 lost plant, and his final wish as Pearson started for a mo. 1 

 interesting bit of botanical exploration in 1910, was that h 

 might at last find General Barkly's huge Mesembryanthemun, 

 and plenty of plants throwing light on the present or pas 

 distribution of the Flora. The result was of the happiest. 



To Professor Pearson 



Sidmouth : March 11, 1911. 



Your most interesting letter of February 12 reached m 

 here two days ago, and gave me a shock of pleasure. You 

 Namaqua third journey has been indeed a success, and 

 heartily congratulate you, as I do myself for having live 

 to read of the rediscovery of the giant Mesembryanihemuri 

 So important an event cannot be hidden from scientifi 

 purview, and I felt compelled to communicate it to Colom 

 Prain for the Kew Bulletin, hoping that you will approv 

 of my action. 



Constant to the last in his claims for the scientific extensio 

 of practical botany, he enclosed a formal message of suppoi 

 to Professor Pearson's efforts in this direction. 



Sidmouth : March 12, 1911. 



My dear Professor Pearson, — I have read with dee 

 interest your excellent pamphlet advocating the establisl 

 ment of a Botanical Garden at Cape Town. 



My long official connection with the Boyal Gardens, Kev 

 the originator of so many Colonial Gardens and the activ 

 correspondent of so many more, leads me to hope that m 

 voice may be heard in support of your appeal. 



That our Colonies both temperate and tropical hav 

 profited exceedingly by their Botanic Gardens in economi 

 and aesthetic points of view needs no demonstration by mf 

 and there is not one of them known to me that its Goverr 

 ment or people would dream of abandoning. 



The South- Western African Flora is the richest and pei 

 haps the most beautiful of any temperate one in the worlc 

 and must contain a great number of plants of a grea 

 economic value that can only be tested under continue 

 cultivation : that none of these should be rubber yielding i 



