14 



interest taken then and that taken later is that, whereas it was the 

 natural interest of an horticultural loving people who had a lean- 

 ing towards improving their fruit, to-day it is the commercial- 

 minded man who thinks he sees a chance of making money under 

 pleasant conditions and surroundings. 



BOTANIC GARDENS. 



We think a few lines in acknowledgment of the good work- 

 done by the Botanical Gardens in the Colony will not be out of 

 place. Let us recognise at once that they have done most 

 excellent work. 



Throughout the British Colonies and Dependencies the es- 

 tablishment of Botanical Gardens has invariably followed British 

 rule. Without having any certain information as to the origin of 

 the idea we shall put it down to Kew, the Director of which 

 unique Institution has done an enormous lot of work in assisting 

 the Colonial and Indian Office in development of the cultivation 

 of products of the soil. Perhaps in no other part of His Ma- 

 jesty's Dominions has this been more clearly demonstrated than 

 in the West Indies, where, owing to the terrible depreciation in 

 value of land and diminution of wealth consequent upon the taking 

 off of the sugar duties, the financial ruin of our Colonies there 

 appeared imminent. The commission appointed by the Colonial 

 Office in 1896 to enquire into the state of the West Indies, decided 

 that new products must be found to take the place of the sugar* 

 cane, and it is mainly, we believe, through the agency of these 

 institutions, which are scattered through every island of the West 

 Indies, that the plants and data as to cultivation are being dis- 

 seminated. We may have wandered somewhat from our point 

 as to our own Botanical Gardens, but we must admit that besides 

 the valuable work of investigation which is outside the province 

 of the ordinary farmer and settler they have been the main means 

 of the dissemination, throughout the Eastern Province especially, 

 of nearly all the newer varieties of deciduous and citrus fruits, and 

 also of seeds. Their great utility was, of course, that they went 

 into this matter at a time when the public would not support pri- 

 vate enterprise or when private enterprise concluded that such 

 was the position. The fact- remains that Horticulture would not 

 have been in the position it is in to-day in this country without the 

 assistance of the Botanical Gardens during its early struggles. 

 Of course to-day, private enterprise has stepped in, and has 

 naturally absorbed the lion's share of the business ; but we have 

 much pleasure in placing on record the fact that good work has 

 been done by these institutions at a time when nobody cared to do 

 it. 



