: ee ciety, formed in 1895. 
1897 | PUBLIC GARDENS AND PLANTATIONS OF JAMAICA 357 
do as much as possible in that ot so long as there was no probability of 
interfering with private enterpri 
But the danger of RE a with trade seems remote, and the demands 
on the part of the public are positive and increasing. There has been an 
annual demand for some 8000 or 10,000 ornamental plants, and even more 
than the department can supply with its present means. The oe oo 
sometimes arise, is the government right in fostering this demand; is it 
legitimate one ; is some great end served by the necessary scat aa and he 
attention to the numberless details that it implies ? 
It appears to me that the question only needs to be stated for all intelli- 
gent persons to answer in the affirmative. Bacon recognizes a love for 
gardening as an index of a nation’s advance in civilization, and without doubt 
it is an important factor in rendering that advance more easy and more cer- 
tain. He says (Essay 46), “God Almighty first planted a garden, and indeed 
it isthe purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the 
Spirits of man, without which buildings and palaces are but gross handi- 
works ; and a man shall ever see, that where ages grow to civility and ele- 
gancy men come to build stately, sooner than to garden finely ; as if ean 
ing were the greater perfection.” 
e plants, cuttings, and seeds, both economical and ornamental, from 
Castleton as well as from the other gardens, are distributed all over the island 
by means of the coastal steamer, the railway, and the post office. 
The increase in the variety of cultural products, and the humanizing influ- 
ence of ornamental plants are matters of appreciation in every part of the 
country from the mountain to the seacoast, Every person who obtains plants 
and grows them, from the sugar planter who makes trial of different varie- 
ties of cane, to the small settler who grows a nutmeg plant, is making experi- 
ments which are of direct benefit to himself and indirectly to his neighbors 
and to the district. 
Parochial or other associations can doa great deal to help the work by 
meeting periodically to discuss all matters connected with agriculture. The 
Sympathy felt between those engaged in sci BRIS the feeling of 
rivalry aroused to attain better y interchanging 
ideas, are all most valuable in the eh duncan of agriculture. He who 
undertakes the laborious task of district, 
_ though he may find few at first to pea him, yet by perseverance with even 
and one or two sympathizers will eventually meet with his reward. Such an 
and this department can render mutual assistance to each other 
in many ways with results that will be of general benefit to the whole island 
The great importance of Castleton as a botanic garden over the other gar- 
* The local association work has been undertaken by the ied Uy aN 
