346 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [NOVEMBER 
Above the Hippurite limestone are beds of black shale, 1000 
feet in thickness, overlaid by a trappean series, all of which are 
placed by Sawkins in the Eocene age. Then follow the yellow 
limestone of Miocene times, white limestone of very recent age, 
and marl, coast lime, and alluvium of post Tertiary times. 
The differences in elevation from sea level to the 7423 feet 
of the Peak, the various exposures to sunlight, the abundance 
or the want of rain and dew, the geological formations, all have 
their influences on plant life, and make the conditions of exist- 
ence of the most diversified character, and the cultivation of 
economic plants from all parts of the world an easier task than 
in most other places. 
HISTORY OF THE GARDENS. 
The first botanic garden in Jamaica was formed about 150 
years ago by a private individual, Mr. Hinton East, on his prop- 
erty near the present village of Gordon Town, nine miles from 
Kingston. After it had been in existence for some years, in 
1774 Sir Basil Keith became governor, and determined on the 
formation of two government botanic gardens, one a “ European 
garden,” and the other a “Tropical garden.” In December of 
the same year a committee of the legislature recommended that 
£ 700 be appropiated for the purchase of a piece of land proper 
for a botanic garden, and that £ 300 sterling be provided for the 
annual salary of a botanist. 
In 1775 a property named Endfield, adjoining Mr. East's gat- 
den, was purchased and Dr. Thomas Clarke came out ‘‘at the par- 
ticular instance and request” of Sir Basil Keith, as island botan- 
ist, and to take charge of the gardens. Dr. Clarke introduced in 
1775 the China tea plant, camphor, litchi, Cycas circinalis (the 
“sago palm”), and Desmodium gyrans; in 1778 Blighta sapida 
(Akee); and in 1779 the clove tree. Endfield being a “steep — 
hillside” proved unsuitable, and in 1778 a law was passed Ac 
purchase land for a botanic garden at or near Bath. The botamic 
garden at Bath was founded in 1779 and placed under the oF 
of Dr. Thomas Clarke. . oe 
