10 



There has been an attempt made to enlist the sympathies of 

 some of the up-country towns in favour of the establishment^ of 

 a Botanic Garden in the upper districts, but it appears to me 

 that at present there is but little chance of success, at least in 

 the direction indicated, what is wanted is not so much a 

 Botanic Grarden as an Experiment Station, where different 

 plants could be tried, and reported upon on a fuller scale than 

 is possible in a Botanic Grarden, whose province it is to intro- 

 duce plants and to report from time to time as to their suit- 

 ability or otherwise for the locality in which the Grarden is 

 situated, an Experiment Station would go farther than this, 

 cultivate the plants in larger quantities, report on their growth, 

 cost of cultivation, yield of crop, most suitable manures, and 

 any other matters which might be of use to the farmers and 

 others. 



In the year 1891 a Commission was appointed to report on 

 the Botanic Gardens of the Colony, the late Sir Theophilus 

 Shepstone was the Chairman, and I was requested to accom- 

 pany him and Colonel Bowker to the upper districts and report 

 provisionally on the most suitable district for an Experiment 

 Station, and the locality upon which we decided was in the 

 vicinity of Mooi River, if a suitable site could be obtained. 

 The report of that Commission was, I believe, drawn up but 

 not signed, and was burned in the fire which destroyed the 

 Maaitzburg Town Hall. It is to be hoped, in the interests of 

 the Colony, that one or more of such Stations will be estab- 

 lished in the near future, but at present I can scarcely think 

 that a so-called Botanic Grarden in the vicinity of an up- 

 country town, and controlled by its Local Board is quite the 

 thing that is wanted. The Botanic Gardens and Experiment 

 Stations of the Colony should, in my opinion, be under the 

 direct control of the Minister of Agriculture, and wholly sup- 

 ported by the Government, I may be wrony, but I think that 

 to place them under the control of the Forest Department 

 would be a serious mistake, and would probably result in pre- 

 venting the Gardens from being as much use to the Colony as 

 they otherwise would be. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Name. 





From. 



jort Botanical Department, Jamaica... 

 ,, Secretary for Agriculture, Nova 



Scotia 

 .„ Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad 

 ,, ,, ,, ,, Jamaica 

 ,, Botanic Gardens, Missouri 



W. 



Fawcett, Director 



Author 

 Director 



5) 



