




A 


according to the same authority, to remove to the department buildings - 
the Cape Government Herbarium, of which Professor MacO wan is the 
of an important colony like the Cape, is calculated to lower the status 
of the Institution, and it is inevitable that its scope will be restricted to 
that of a “town pleasaunce of flowers and shady walks.’ It is in- 
evitable also that it should lose its national erp amongst similar 
institutions in other parts of the world, and its value as a means of 
solving important pee connected with ds development of ‘ie 
vegetable resources of the colony, must. be subservient to its functions 
as a municipal institution 
‘It is to be hoped, howev er, that botanical ciapi at the Cape has 
not so entirely died out that it may not be possible at some future time 
to establish a Botanical Garden, under scientific control worthy of the 
colony and of its vast and valuable resources. The Cape Flora is one 
of the most interesting in the world. A large n umber of ae interest- 
ll 
and cun dei ‘will soon pass away. A National Garden, maintained 
by Government and under suitable signee control, affords the most 
satisfactory means for preserving and studying such plants, and this 
«c 
obtained within easy reach of f One T , it is in ever desirable 
that the idea should not be lost sight of, xd that the Goverainaii should 
recognise the duty of eho, such a garden as one of the national — 
oo of the countr 
of the vegetable resources of the nara may be gathered from the 
crued i 
hese, however, are ardly more important than the scientific value 
attached to the preservation of the singularly interesting plants of Sout 
frica. Such plants could only be successfully cultivated and preserved . 
in an institution where they could be arranged and grown under cireum- 
stances ST removed from the merely local interest engendered by 
municipal control. 
The fo xema historical account of the Cape Town Po Garden 
is taken from the Cape Argus, dated November 18, 1891 
The Botanic Garden originated in proposals made to the Government 
by Dr. James Adamson a and a few of his friends interested in horticul- — 
ture and in botany, especially Dr. Ludwig Pappe, Mr. R. H. Arderne, 
P 
and Messrs. Kotzé, Clarence, Ross, Fai bairn, and Rutherford. Some- 
thing of the same kind had been proposed long before, and discussed in 
: i : : 
the publie papers, and mainly on suggestion of James Bowie, a 
collector of plants sent eut by the Gard ew othing 
resulted, however, till Dr. Adamson brought up the matter on 
and kept it before the publie and the Government. The Commissioners 
were appointed May 5th, 1848, and immediately opened a subscription 
jist, appointed as gardener a local nurseryman of the name of Draper, and 
set to work in earnest to lay out and plant up the area cut off for their 
use from the Government Gardens. This space then extended from the 
present line of Wale Street to a sunken roadway, constructed at the 









