74 
It was inevitable that the great wave of plant intro- 
duction in the last half of the nineteenth century should 
lose its momentum, even if only because of its initial 
success. The establishment of the Department of Agri- 
culture and State farms, the activities of the Forestry 
Department, progressive nurserymen and horticultural 
societies, the independent introduction and experiments 
by farmers, orchardists and gardeners, and more recently 
the plant introduction work of the O.S.I.R.O. have 
whittled down the importance, of the Botanic Gardens in 
such work. The Gardens at Bowen and Rockhampton were 
handed over to local authorities, and finally on the estab- 
lishment of Greater Brisbane, the Brisbane Gardens were 
handed over to the Brisbane City Council. 
It is often regarded as a matter of great regret that 
the Botanic Gardens should have lost their former import- 
ance in the agricultural and horticultural life of the 
State. Even in the early seventies in Walter Hill’s time 
an attempt was made 1o use the area for business purposes, 
and within the last twenty-five years we have had serious 
proposals to put a public road through them and to build 
a first class cafe. During the war a section was 
temporarily used as a fun park with merry-go-rounds 
and the like. Wholesale distribution and experimentation 
has been long abandoned. It might: seem that the gardens 
have become little more than a city park. This, however, 
is far from being the true state of affairs. 
It is necessary to decide what is a botanic garden, 
and what should be expected of it. It should contain a 
collection of plants that can be grown in the region in 
which it is situated, though not necessarily anything 
approximating to a complete collection, because limits 
are imposed by the area available. If the selection is 
restricted to woody plants it is an arboretum. The species 
should be accurately labelled. One botanic garden may 
have thousands of species; another, because of some such 
reason as rigorous climate, may have perhaps only a 
hundred. The size of the collection is not the limiting 
factor. The type of planting may vary. Plants may he 
grown in orderly beds with their contents grouped 
according to family, or according to economic use. That 
was the arrangement of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens 
in Baron von Mueller’s time. An alternative is land- 
scape gardening and the Melbourne Gardens to-day, the 
creation of W. R. Guilfoyle, are the best, example in 
Australia. Such a type is not inconsistent with scientific 
