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North-West Provinces is stationed at Saharanpur with a residence in 

 the hills at Chassoree ; in the Madras Presidency the Director lives at 

 Ootacamund in the Nilgiri Hills. Finally the most important Botanic 

 Garden in the world, Kew, is at some distance from London. 



The chief functions of the Department have been laid down to be the 

 " diffusion of information" and the " distribution of plants." The 

 diffusion of information must either be in the way of itinerant lecturing, 

 or by correspondence and printed papers such as the " Bulletin ;" in either 

 case it does not much matter where the Director lives ; and in the latter 

 case a far greater amount of work can be done in the climate of the hills 

 than in the plains. The distribution of plants from the various 

 gardens, (Hope, Castleton, Parade, Cinchona) is carried on by the 

 different Superintendents in pursuance of directions by post from the 

 Director's office, and can be controlled as effectually from Cinchona as 

 from Kingston. 



For more than a year during the time of the Exhibition and prepara- 

 tion for it, I spent part of every week in Kingston, and my experience 

 was that all the Departmental business could be transacted quite as 

 well from Cinchona as in Kingston. Nor has any business in connection 

 with the Department during eight years rendered my presence in King- 

 ston necessary or suffered by my absence, although I visited it once 

 or twice a month on the occasions of my periodical visits to inspect the 

 various Gardens. There is a daily post, and if any occasion should oc- 

 cur, I can reach Kingston in less than 4 hours' time. I do not consider 

 that it is necessarily an advantage to be able to communicate by word of 

 mouth. One hundred people in different parts of the island may wish 

 for much the same information about some cultural product. This in- 

 formation, asked for by definite questions in letters, can be given by 

 definite answers in writing or in print, and can be supplied to the hun- 

 dred probably- in as short a time as it would take to talk it over, with 

 the chance of its being soon forgotten, with perhaps only one person out 

 of the hundred who could come to Kingston. The probability is that 

 my time would practically be at the disposal not of planters, but of 

 " globe-trotters" and others as little interested in agriculture. This 

 would be a most serious disadvantage. 



Hill Garden.— -The question is raised as to whether it is advisable to 

 maintain a garden at an elevation of 4,900 ft. 



This is a separate consideration altogether from the question of the 

 locality for Head- Quarters, and whatever may be decided about the lat- 

 ter, it appears to me to be necessary to provide for the wants of the 

 larger half of the island that lies above the elevation of Hope and Cas- 

 tleton. 



There are numerous economic plants that will not come to perfection, 

 or grow at all at a low elevation, and the value of high elevation gar- 

 dens is recognised in all the most enlightened tropical colonies. In 

 Ceylon, one is maintained at an elevation of 5,580 ft. ; in Java a garden 

 of 70 acres in extent is kept up at about the same altitude ; and in In- 

 dia there is a large number of Hill Gardens. 



^ t 'The idea that, as the Hill Garden has not introduced any new indus- 

 try besides Cinchona, it is therefore worthless, is not one that is likely 



