5 
Works of arb we can call forth at pleasure, while time lost in forming the plantations cannot 
be regained. Now, however, since the main planting operations have been effected, it is but too 
desirable that a few appropriate statues and monumental works should add to the embellishment of 
the very varied vegetation, and stand with it in bold or beautifying contrast. It is proposed to gather 
works of art, constructed of the most varied material ; the Carrara marble, all the cement compositions, 
the various blendings of ore, might all be brought together for illustration. For the play of fountains, 
the water pressure was hitherto quite insufficient, inasmuch as the Yan Yean works are only utilized 
when, at late night hours, the pressure exceeds 40 lbs. to the square inch. Had not, providently, 
each of the many Garden buildings been supplied with a spacious cistern, it would have been impossible 
to save the plantations from destruction during the trials of the summer months, unless by costly 
means Yarra water had been forced to the culmination of the hill for extensive irrigation. A special 
vote, adequate for such waterworks, has never been at my disposal, nor could such independent "water 
supply have been maintained, unless annually a considerable outlay for fuel and attendance to an 
engine were incurred, or, what appears still less desirable, a windmill — apt to interfere with the traffic, 
and never sightl}^ — had been established on the summit of the ridge. Nevertheless, it might be highly 
instructive to show, by local experiment, how much Yarra water could be forced by steam-power to 
the summits of our rises, within certain expenditure of capital and labor, because the feitility of many 
extensive tracts of the country could be very much increased, and the clime vastly be ameliorated, if ' 
rivers like the Yarra, and still more so those of the great Murray system, were not allowed to flow 
unutilized into the ocean. 
Waterholes are sunk into tenacious clay soil on the higher-lying parts of the ridge, for securing 
the storage of Yan Yean water during rainy nights ; and from these reservoirs the water is led readily 
during the hottest weather, by gravitation, to the plantations on the slopes below. 
The abandoned quarries have been decorated with Agaves, Aloes, Mesembryanthema, some 
Pelargonia and other rock plants ; while Brambles, Strawberries, and other wild fruit plants, attractive 
to children, have been planted in the gullies. Goodenias, Roses, and other shrubs line the river and 
lagoons. The fern-tree gully has been extended, and to the various hardy arborescent Ferns, some 
perhaps a century old, huge square Todeas of great age, Staghorn Ferns, and very many other species, 
became added in masses. The kinds of hedges now shown in different parts of the ground are very 
various, but that of Pittosporum eugenioides, first adopted by myself, is most admired, and called 
forth an extensive trade in this plant. Four other New Zealand Pittospora, as well as our native 
P. undulatum, are among those chosen for hedges. Tlie Chamomile edgings, as time absorbing as 
defertilising and apt to be trodden down, become gradually abolished. Turkish Box, dwarf Roses, 
Veronica decussata, Rosemary, and most particularly Mesembryanthemum tegens, are substituted. 
The latter plant can be obtained largely from the Yarra flat, never fails in the heat of summer, and 
grows so depressed as to need only lateral trimming. Although large improvements have taken place 
on all the lawns, they still require gradually to be turfed with Cynodon Dactylon, a gras.s which is 
within a few weeks established, by casting its rhizoms, converted into small pieces, over the broken 
and levelled ground, a process extensively adopted by the Director of the Sydney Botanical Garden. 
It tends also much to subdue weeds. On the even surfaces of ground clothed with Cynodon, an ever 
verdant fine turf can be maintained by the ready appliance of lawn-cutters and rollers. Banded 
flower masses might be interwoven ; but as yet such works of luxury, for which, after the lapse of the 
season, no permanent return can be shown, have not been attempted in this young establishment. 
There is, nevertheless, a gay display of flowers in the special garden land through the greater part of 
the year ; indeed, the variety is far greater than a superficial observer will imagine, inasmuch as the 
area variedly studded with flowers is so extremely extensive. 
The incessant calls, however, to provide for public fetes, tea meetings, and bazaars, decorative 
flowers, not rarely deprive the Garden of a real show of ornament. The plants throughout the ground 
are very extensively labelled, about 3,000 iron labels being employed. Labels, however, with fused, 
and thus unobliterable letters, are here, as elsewhere, yet a great desideratum. In the large conser- 
vatory all plants are placed, for instruction s sake, along both sides of the stages, so as to represent 
those of the Western and of the Eastern hemisphere separately, the plants of the various families being 
a^raiii grouped together. In an inexpensive structure, far too modest to do justice to so grand a plant, 
the Royal Water-lily has flowered throughout two seasons, and repeatedly has ripened seeds, available 
for transmission to the hotter parts of Australia. The high temperature of the Victoria-house is 
