2 50 



NA TURE 



\7an. 13, 1887 



Grenada, which is in a fairly prosperous condition, has 

 enlarged the original idea of a botanic station by making 

 provision for a small botanic garden, which is now in 

 course of being laid out under the charge of a trained 

 superintendent (originally from Kew, but with Jamaica 

 experience) at the Paddock, within easy reach of the town 

 of St. George. At St. Vincent the proposal to utilise the 

 old botanic garden of the colony as a botanical station 

 has been adopted, but the provision at present made is 

 insufficient for the purpose, and will require to be slightly 

 increased. 



St. Lucia, to the north-west of Barbados, has shown a 

 spirit of commendable energy in taking up the idea, and 

 has given practical eft'ect to it through the operations of its 

 well-organised agi'icultural society. An experienced cura- 

 tor, also from Jamaica, has recently been appointed to the 

 charge of the station, and good results are anticipated. 

 At Dominica the botanical station has not yet assumed a 

 practical form owing to the depressed state of the finances ; 

 but there is little doubt that ultimately such a station will 

 be established, and the resources of this fertile island more 

 largely developed. 



Further north, Antigua, more especially concerned in 

 the cultivation of the sugar-cane, has joined the scheme, 

 and apparently is only waiting the completion of final 

 arrangements at the centra! estabUshment. British Hon- 

 duras, which has already benefited by its intercourse with 

 the Botanical Establishment in Jamaica, has the site for 

 a station, and a managing body has been appointed to 

 begin operations at an early date. 



To give a certain cohesion and uniformity of action to 

 these several agencies, it was thought very desirable that 

 a visit should be made to the islands concerned by the 

 head of the Jamaica Department. This was accomplished 

 in the early part of last year by the writer of these 

 notes, who was happy to devote a short holiday, on retire- 

 ment from Jamaica, in visiting the islands at his own 

 expense. 



During this visit sites for stations were examined and 

 discussed, and suggestions made for their working on the 

 lines best suited to local circumstances. As a practical 

 instance of the feasibility of a botanical federation of the 

 West Indies, it may be mentioned that recently an inquiry 

 has been made, by genera! consent of the local Legislatures, 

 into the condition of the indigenous forest growths of these 

 islands, by IVIr. E. D. M. Hooper, of the JVIadras Forest 

 Department. 



The Reports on Jamaica and St. Vincent are already 

 published, and they are of such a practical and useful 

 character that they cannot fail to have an appreciable 

 effect upon the treatment and management of the forests 

 both as reserves of timber to supply future wants, and as a 

 means of maintaining a due humidity of climate and pro- 

 tecting the sources of springs and rivers. These Forest 

 Reports, when completed, will add greatly to our know- 

 ledge of West Indian timbers, their nature, extent, and 

 distribution ; and they will also afford for the first time in 

 history the actual economic and meteorological conditions 

 of the interior of several islands beyond the confines of 

 the present areas under cultivation. 



In many instances the natural forest trees, as at Bar- 

 bados, the Virgin I lands, and some of the islands of the 

 Grenadines, havebeennearly exterminated ; those once very 

 common, and represented largely in collections of botanical 

 travellers of the last century, are now almost unknown. If 

 the botanical stations are carried on with due regard to the 

 industrial wants of the community, and are not allowed to 

 degenerate into mere nurseries for ornamental plants, 

 they will indirectly do much to enlarge knowledge as 

 regards local floras, and bring to light many indigenous 

 plants likely to prove useful on account of such medicinal 

 and economic properties as they may possess. In the 

 year 1824 it was laid down as one of the objects of the 

 then Botanical Garden, at Jamaica, that it should devote 



attention " to the investigation of many unknown native 

 plants of the island, which, from the properties of those 

 already known, it is reasonable to infer would prove highly 

 beneficial in augmenting internal resources by supplying 

 various articles either for food, for medicine, or for manu- 

 facture, ... by means of which great commercial advan- 

 tages might be obtained ; among others, the various 

 vegetable dyes claim particular attention, as promising a 

 fruitful field of discovery.'' As indicating the direct 

 bearing which this one field of inquiry (vegetable dyes) 

 among many others had upon the future of Jamaica, it is 

 interesting to note thatwhde no dye-woods whatever were 

 exported from the island in 1824, a small trade of the 

 value of 1859/. was started in 1833, which since that 

 time has steadily increased, until now it has assumed re- 

 latixely large dimensions. The exports of dye-woods in 

 1S70 reached a gross value of 1 12,313/. (" Jamaica Hand- 

 book," 1884-85, p. 371;). 



Similar results in more recent times have attended the 

 increased attention given to the cultivation of fruits that 

 had been neglected in Jamaica. The export of these in 

 1875 amounted to 14,912/., in 18S4 the total value had 

 increased to 273,534/. 



Results such as these, although obviously of a special 

 character, justify any attempt that may be made to improve 

 the circumstances of the West India Islands ; and they 

 aftbrd also a striking instance of what is capable of being 

 accomplished in these islands when careful investigation 

 and judicious and enterprising effort are made to fit local 

 circumstances to the demands of the outer world. 



As regards the carrying out of a scheme of local enter- 

 prise in the West Indies, it may be mentioned that the 

 recent appointment of i\Ir. William Fawcett, a highly- 

 qualified botanist, to the post of Director of the Botanical 

 Department in Jamaica, and the transfer of Mr. Hart, 

 late senior Superintendent at Jamaica, to the post of head 

 of the Botanic Garden at Trinidad, appear to offer every 

 hope of success to a botanical federation of the West 

 India Islands. Jamaica and Trinidad, as the two foci of 

 operations, could very well group round them the lesser 

 islands, and the full realisation of such a scheme as is 

 here indicated only requires such working out of details 

 as may well take place at an early period. 



It is important, however, to bear in mind that the success 

 of the Jamaica Botanical Department, which has acted for 

 several years as the centre of botanical and economical 

 operations in the West Indies, has been in a great measure 

 due to the valuable suggestions and the moral and material 

 support which for many years it has received from Kew. 

 It was from Sir William Hooker that Jamaica received 

 its first supplies of seed of the several species of Cinchona, 

 which have laid the foundation of the only English 

 Cinchona enterprise in the New World. It was from 

 his illustrious son and successor at Kew, Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, that Jamaica received its tea plants and seeds, 

 india-rubber plants, coca plants, fibre plants, and regular 

 and large supplies of all the economic and medicinal 

 plants which have flowed through Kew for distribution 

 to various portions of the British Empire. Few can 

 realise the eminent services which have been rendered 

 by Kesv in this direction, both by its correspondence and 

 contributions, but there is every reason to believe that 

 the results will ultimately be apparent in the greater 

 prosperity of the inhabitants of the West Indies, and in 

 the larger development of their rich and varied resources. 



D. Morris 



ART AND SCIENCE IN A NEW LIGHT 

 TV/T R. BRETT is an artist of reputation and of remark- 

 •'■'-'- able industry. His pictures are popular, and meet 

 with appreciative purchasers. He is enrolled among the 

 Associates of the Royal Academy, and no doubt looks 

 forward to be in due time raised to the dignity of Acade- 



