85 
During the course of last year a prolonged correspondence took place 
between Kew, the Forei ora Office, and Sir Henry Johnston, with a view 
of ascertaining if som e depot t could be established on the east coast 
from which plants could be supplied to mp and which would 
be of more easy access than Zomba. The idea, however, proved im- 
practicable, and Zomba will therefore for the Pes be treated as the 
central station to which plants will be sent, where they can be propagated 
and from which they ‘can be distribut 
e wbole poet is thorotgnif discussed in the following letter 
from Sir John 
Sir Joun Kirk to Roxar Garpens, Kew. 
Wavertree, Sevenoaks, 
ovember 30, 1895. 
Dear THISELTON-DYER 
You ask me regarding the establishment of eem for the 
distribution of useful plants in East Africa. Ië is obviously a needless 
expense and waste of means for Kew and other d "establish 
men e 
forwarded at once in part by a skilled gardener who would examine 
each case on arri 
The districts to be considered are (1) the rns Protectorate vn 
Nyasaland and the British territory south of the Zambesi to 
administered by the South Africa Company. 
Clearly the best route by which to transmit cases of plants for this 
region is vid the Cape, as a rule, and Natal with its existing garden is 
nainely, the t are found to be tl in order to keep the 
coffee leaf disease out of the Nyasa coffee plantations. 
If, therefore, Nyasa will not allow plants that have been propagated 
at Natal or other points on the coast to be introduced, the administration 
abandon all participation in such a scheme as you suggest. yasa- 
land is in a prosperous state the Administration, aided by the pepe 
in which case there is no necessity to consider the use of Natal as a 
V sues but if a coast station is to be established to supply that part of 
ur possessions, I feel satisfied that Natal is the proper place from its 
commercial position and the facility of access and distribution coupled 
with 1 the warm and moist climate it possesses. > 
(2.) Between Nyasa and Zanzibar we have no interest, and as at 
Zanzibar and on the opposite mainland at Mombasa the climate is 
tropical, a separate station is there needed. Natal would not serve as 
a centre, partly from the distance, the want of rapid communication and 
the nature of the climate, that of Natal being sub-tropical and not fitted 
regions would be a little inland from the port of basa, which is a 
of regular call by steamships. At a distance of from 10 to 15 
bills a suitable site with rich soil and abundant water could be found. 
