BOTANICAL AND HORTICULTUKAL GARDENS. 127 



he strolls down these beautiful walks and breathes the 

 pure air of the park. 



When you visit Melbourne, do not forget the parks 

 and gardens. 



The mildness of the climate, of course, gives our anti- 

 podean cousins a very great advantage over us, as very 

 few, if any, of the park plants or flowers have to be 

 housed for the winter. Making all allowance for this 

 difference, however, the Canadians are still far behind 

 in their efforts in this direction. 



Horticultural societies are encouraged by the Govern- 

 ment, and are found now in almost all parts of the 

 land. 



The Royal Horticultural Society of Victoria, located 

 at Melbourne, is the oldest and most important. It 

 has five hundred members. We visited their garden 

 in Richmond Park, accompanied by one of the direc- 

 tors, a very dear friend, M. L. Hutchinson, Esq. 



The collection of fruit trees is very large. 



There are in this garden over six hundred different 

 kinds of apple trees, ninety different kinds of cherries, 

 twenty-eight of currant, one hundred and twenty of 

 gooseberries, twenty-one of oranges, four hundred 

 pears, one hundred and two peaches, one hundred and 

 forty-eight plums, fifty strawberries, one hundred and 

 seventy grapes, eighteen raspberries, forty-eight apri* 



