10 



coffee, vanilla, oranges, East Indian mangoes, cardamom, kola. The re- 

 mainder were palms, roses, ferns, orchids, and miscellaneous trees and 

 shrubs, among which are included timber trees. 



I stated in my report for the year 1887-8 that although it was not 

 the mission of a botanic garden to undertake the work of a horticultural 

 establishment, and supply the public with ornamental plants, I thought it 

 right to do as much as possible in that direction, so long as there was no 

 probability of interfering with private enterprise. 



But the danger of interfering with trade seems remote, and the demands 

 on the part of the public are positive and increasing. There has been an 

 annual demand for some 8,000 or 10,OOU ornamental plants, and even more 

 than the department can supply with its present means. The question 

 may sometimes arise, is the government right in fostering this demand; 

 is it a legitimate one ; is some great end served by the necessary expendi- 

 ture, and the attention to the numberless details that it implies ? 



It appears to me that the question only needs to be stated for all intelli- 

 gent persons to answer in the affirmative. Bacon recognises a love for 

 gardening as an index of a nation's advance in civilisation, and without 

 doubt it is an important factor in rendering that advance more easy and 

 more certain. He says, (Essay 46) God almighty first planted a garden 

 and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refresh- 

 ment to the spirits of man, without which buildings and palaces are but gross 

 handiworks ; and a man shall ever see that where ages grow to civility 

 and elegancy men come to build stately, sooner than to garden finely ; as 

 if gardening were the greater perfection". 



The plants, cuttings, and seeds, both economical and ornamental from 

 Castleton as well as from the other gardens, are distributed all over the 

 island by means of-the coastal steamer, the railway, and the post office. 



The increase in the variety of cultural products, and the humanizing 

 influence of ornamental plants are matters of appreciation in every part of 

 the country from the mountain to the sea coast. Every person who obtains 

 plants and grows them, from the sugar planter who makes trial of difi'er- 

 ent varieties of cane, to the small pettier who grows a nutmeg plant, is 

 making experiments which are of direct benefit to himself and indirectly 

 to his r.eighbours and to the district. 



Parochial or other associations can do a great deal to help the work by 

 meeting periodically to discuss all matters connected with agriculture, 

 The sympathy felt between those engaged in kindred pursuits, the feeling 

 of rivalry aroused to attain better results, the mutual aid obtained by in- 

 terchanging ideas are all most valuable in the improvement of agriculture. 

 He who undertakes the laborious task of starting such an association in 

 his own district, though he may find few at first to join him, yet by perse- 

 verance with even only one or two sympathisers will eventually meet with 

 his reward. Such an association and this department can render mutual 

 assistance to each other in many ways with results that will be of general 

 benefit to the whole island.* 



The great importance of Castleton as a botanic garden over the other 

 gardens may be estimated from the fact that there are some plants such as 

 vanilla, which will only grow naturally there, and that there are others 

 such as roses which can only there be successfully propagated. Castleton 

 must therefore always be the great propagating centre. 



* The local association work has been undertaken by the Jamaica Agricultu- 

 ral Society formed in 1895. 



