7 
particularly valuable as containing many species hitherto nowhere under 
cultivation. Chiefly of this supply collections have been transmitted for 
interchange to the Koyal Gardens of Kew, to the Melbourne University 
Garden, to the Botanic Gardens of Hobart Town, Sydney, Brisbane, 
Adelaide, Paris, Mauritius, Cape Town, Calcutta, Boston, and Hamburg. 
Of seeds secured from our cultivated plants upwards of 100 
collections have been distributed by the Curator, the greatest number of 
species being 150, the total number of packets more than 5100. These 
were allotted either to residents of the adjacent Colonies, or to the colonists 
of Victoria, and of various other parts of the globe ; and it is to be hoped, 
and generally promised, that the recipients will endeavor to contribute by 
an apt equivalent to the increase of our own plants. 
For several of the public reserves, avenues, and many gardens, 
plants or cuttings have been furnished at this season to a great extent, and 
these principally under the authority of the Office of Public Works, 
Mr. John Walters, one of the foremen of the Garden, was 
despatched to Wilson’s Promontory to obtain on a large scale ferns and 
young plants of the indigenous evergreen beech (Fagus Cunninghami), of 
the native Sassafras tree (Atlierosperma moschatum), and of other trees and 
shrubs of that locality, either rare, useful, or ornamental. Through the 
aid kindly offered by the owners of the sawmill at Sealers’ Cove he lias 
been enabled to secure, besides a collection of timber specimens, a large 
number of young plants of forest trees, not only valuable as acquisitions to 
our Garden, but also for mutual interchange with similar institutions. 
It is intended to devote a space of about three acres to an arrange- 
ment of plants according to the Natural System, in order to facilitate 
information on phytology, by demonstrating on living plants the mutual 
alliances which connect the members of the vegetable kingdom. The 
performance of this plan is already in progress. 
Arrangements are also made for labelling the principal plants of 
this Garden in a distinct and instructive manner, and a hope is entertained 
of completing the greater part of this labor before the end of the present 
vear. 
W 
It is contemplated to retain the south-eastern part of the Garden in 
its natural state, adding merely in the course of time a variety of evergreen 
and shady trees to the existing Eucalypti. The erection of a third 
conservatory, for intertropical plants destined for this locality, will no 
douht soon contribute towards the embellishment of one of the most 
beautiful spots in the Garden. 
On the steep declivities fronting the Yarra, and the western portion 
of the lagoon, a Pinetum will be reared, the locality, as a sheltered one, 
being not only favorable for the growth of the more tender pines, but also 
for an advantageous display of their noble forms. The southernmost 
portion of the ground is reserved partially for raising hereafter, as far as 
lies in our power, plants of such trees as recommend themselves for the 
formation of avenues along our public roads, or for plantations on 
