XIX 



he also learned that the amount of popular appreciation bestowed on the 

 Class Ground in the Adelaide Gardens is very limited indeed. In making 

 the foregoing remarks Mr. Abbott did not wish it to be understood that he 

 was averse to the formatiiMi of a class ground when the proper time 

 arrived for so doing. He inclined to the opinion that such an arrangement 

 should always be in connection with a good herbarium, botanical library, 

 and lecture room, as it is only under these conditions that the real utility 

 of a Class Ground becomes apparent. The maintenance of an efficient 

 Class Ground, covering about three acres, would cost at least from £100 

 to £150 per annum, a much greater expenditure than could possibly be met 

 by the present resources of the gardens. The formation of a collection of 

 Tasmanian plants he considered of primary importance. 



Mr. Justice Dobson spoke in favour of forming a class ground, but on 

 a limited scale, by merely selecting characteristic and typical plants well 

 adapted to this climate ; and with regard to the suggestion that a collection 

 of plants indigenous to Tasmania should be formed in the Gardens, he 

 pointed out that it would be impossible to do so owing to the dissimilar 

 conditions of soil and climate, especially in regard to alpine plants. 



Mr. Abbott explained that he did not object to the formation of class 

 grounds when they could be made of practical utility, but he wished to 

 point out that, as a rule, they were little appreciated by the general pubHc, 

 and that he did not consider the present the proper time to initiate the 

 matter. "With regard to size, he could only say he had asked Dr. Schom- 

 burgk's opinion as to what he considered essential, and that gentleman had 

 replied that the Adelaide class ground covered two acres, but that the plants 

 had not room to develop, and that he considered three acres little enough 

 for the purpose. The proposal could not be carried out without addi- 

 tional expenditure, for it would be necessary to place the ground in charge 

 of a man having at least some knowledge of the plants contained in it ; 

 the staff now employed at the gardens would be too limited to allow 

 the work to be undertaken. In speaking of a collection of Tasmanian plants 

 he referred only to those amenable to cultivation. 



Mr. C. H. Grant believed that the time had hardly arrived for the con- 

 sideration of the planning out of a class ground after the manner adopted 

 in the Adelaide gardens, the chief difficulty being the already too numerous 

 demands upon Mr. Abbott's time and the want of skilled assistance. 

 However little attention such a ground might require, it would be in 

 addition to what was already far more than fully engaged, and it would 

 be better to devote any available time to subjects of a more popular 

 nature. From his experience of these gardens, at Kevv and other places 

 in the Old World, they were of most limited general interest, and this 

 in communities deeply permeated with a taste for scientific subjects, and 

 numbering amongst their members many persons eminent for researches 

 in botany and similar studies. He was not, therefore, surprised to 

 hear Mr. Abbott state that in Melbourne these class gardens were en- 

 tirely neglected, since neither the educated nor the popular bent of 

 these colonies can be said to be in the direction of science. He felt sure 

 that for one person who would cast a second glance at beds of plants 

 arranged according to their natural orders, at least twenty would examine 

 collections of general native plants, such as ferns or grasses, etc., on a 

 rockery or other convenience made for growing them ; and that such collec- 

 tions, if made as complete as possible, would be both interesting and in- 

 structive to visitors. He would, therefore, greatly prefer Mr, Abbott's 

 suggestion, rather to procure and grow specimens of the Tasmanian Flora 

 than to spend the same time and resources on a strictly botanic garden, 

 Students of Botany generally commenced their studies in the class room, 

 from Herbaria or readily obtained specimens, and, when imbued with an 

 interest in the science, take up special groups of plants for more atten- 

 tive consideration, rather than extend such throughout the whole of the 



