19 



especially to those who took an active part in their establish- 

 ment and are still with us. To the later arrivals it will serve 

 to show the difficulties which attended the formation of the 

 Society and the establishment of the Gardens. It will be 

 noticed that the Society was commenced as the Natal Agricul- 

 tural and Horticultural Society, and so remained for many 

 years, until a separate Society was formed called the Durban 

 Horticultural Society, but of this 1 have no record. This 

 Society has now ceased to exist, and there are so many difficul- 

 ties attendant on the organisation and working of a Flower 

 Show in a town like Durban, where the large majority of the 

 cultivators of flowers such as would be suitable for exhibition 

 purposes reside in the suburbs, that the attempt to hold such 

 Shows, at any rate as annual fixtures, has very reluctantly been 

 abandoned. 



In compiling this short account, the only information that 

 I have been able to obtain is contained in three Minute books 

 of the Committee, a Visiting Committee book kept at the 

 Gardens, together with a few Reports of Mr. Keit and the late 

 Mr. Sanderson. Mr. Windham, the Government Inspector, 

 occasionally visited the Gardens, but his Reports in their 

 entirety have apparently not been preserved. Some of these 

 books are in a rather dilapidated condition, and no Curators 

 Reports are available before the year 1865, after which time 

 Mr. McKen kept a Memo, book, from which I have been able 

 to ascertain the names of plants introduced, and also lists of 

 seeds received, but it is now quite impossible to say whether 

 these seeds or any of them were successfully reared or not, and 

 as no record was kept of the part of the Garden in which the 

 plants were placed it is equally impossible to say, except in a 

 very few cases, whether the plants now in the Gardens were 

 those originally imported or not. 



On April 18th, 1848, a meeting was held for the purpose 

 of forming an Agricultural Society, and the following were 

 elected as the Committee : —President, E. Morewood ; Vice- 

 Presidents, P. J. Jung and Hyp. Jargal; Treasurer, J. A. Ross ; 

 Secretary, J. Turner; Committee, G. C. Cato, R. Clarence, 

 J. Proudfoot, J. M. Cockburn. At a meeting held on June 

 13th, it was decided to apply to the Lieut. -Governor for a piece 

 of land at Umlaas " for the purpose of forming an experimental 

 garden." On the 5th of August it was reported that no land 

 at Umlaas was available, and it was then decided to apply for 

 a site on the Berea " on the banks of the Umgeni," and a 

 favourable reply having been received from the Lieut. -Governor, 

 another meeting was held in December of the same year, when 

 it was decided that a Show should be held during 1850, and 



