11 
For more than a mile’s length, basalt boulders have recently been brought from Jolimont, by 
permission of the City Council, to line the intended footpaths on both sides of the main drive. The 
drive itself, to the width of twenty feet, requires to be macadamized, for which purpose the boulders 
may be utilized, whenever more elegant linings can be substituted for them. 
By the friendly aid of the military authorities lately, walks became laid out on and near the 
Yarra bank, towards the City bridge. During the coming autumn it is intended to define these walks 
with many hundreds of rose-bushes. The fences along the St. Kilda road, Domain road, and 
Anderson street, up to the point at which the iron fencings commence, have sunk almost into 
destruction. Several thousand young Willows, planted along both sides of the Yarra bank during the 
last cool season, have weathered fairly through this summer of drought, labor for watering those on the 
north bank having been granted by the Corporation. 
An important work will devolve on the department in further excavations on the lake, if the 
needful extra aid can be rendered. The water evaporated entirely through the aridity of the season, 
and no sufficient rise of the river has taken place to refill the lake. The advantages of deepening this 
basin would be manifold. Its niveau and that of the river w'ould become permanently equal, and a 
constant communication between both w'ould become possible ; material would he gained to heighten the 
flood-dam so far as to obviate future inundations of the Garden; the brackish water of the lake would 
become fresh and available for garden purposes ; further storage of soil for the improvement of the 
meagre Garden slopes w'ould become possible ; waterfo\\l might permanently be maintained on the lake ; 
and finally, the aspect of the whole landscape would be greatly beautified. 
Sir William Macarthur’s method of wrapping hard seeds into moistened cloth to speed their 
germination has been adopted to advantage. 
A variety of Bamboos and different Sugar-canes were secured, including the hardy Chinese cane; 
forty-eight kinds of Vines were added on behalf of the Acclimatisation Society to the already large 
collection, which includes the white and black American Scuppernong, the Sultana raisin grape, the 
French Cognac grape, Follet Blanche, and many other famed kinds, new or rare in Australia. The 
true Oriental Dye Saffron, Colehicum, the oil-yielding Sesamum, the Tussac grass of the Falkland 
Islands, the Caper (quite an ornamental plant), the wide-spreading avenue Acacia of West Australia 
(Acacia saligna), Ficus sycamorus (the best of all avenue trees of the Orient), the Clove, Rhamnus 
utilis (yielding the green satin dye of China), the Sapodiila, the Avocado Pear, the Indian Teak, 
Cassava, Squill, Turmeric, the medicinal Bhcl fruit, the Tree Cotton, Mangostan, edible Vanguiera, 
Aya-pana, Gelsemium, and many other important plants, are more recent acquisitions to the garden. 
Although it may as yet be impossible to cultivate remuneratively the Saffron and many other of the 
plants indicated, it remains evidently still the aim of a public institution to establish such plants timely 
in the country. 
Turning to the nursery department I can report favorable progress, notwithstanding the 
precarious supplv of water during the great heat. For the first time in Australia masses were raised 
of plants of Assam Tea (the seed kindly supplied, on the Director’s wish, by W. H. Birchall, Esq.) ; so 
also large numbers of the White-heart Hickory or Mocker-nut (Carya tomentosa), of the delicious 
Pecan-nut (Carya oliviformis), the Butter-nut (Juglans cinerea), the Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), the 
Himalayan Oak (Quercus incana), the Chesnut Oak (Querc. Castanea), the American Swamp Oak 
(Querc. Pririos), the Bur Oak (Q. macrocarpa), the White Oak (Q. alba, a most valuable timber tree), 
the Jersey Pine (Pinus inops), the American Pitch Fir (P. rigida), the Douglass Pine, the noble 
Himalayan Pinus longifolia, the Chinese Fir, the Balm of Gilead Fir (P. balsamea), the double Canada 
Balsam Fir (P. Fraseri), the West India Pencil Cedar (Juniperus Bermudiana), and the American. 
Cherry Birch (Betula lenta). 
Many other highly valuable trees have been lately introduced, but not really in masses. Secured 
were, however, large supplies of the seeds of Pinus Gerardiana (the Tibet Bee or Shungtee), which 
furnishes sweet edible nuts for Indian and Persian bazaars ; and grains also were obtained in quantity 
of Juniperus rcligiosa (the Himalayan Pencil Cedar). Many good-sized plants of the latter are since 
several years on our lawns. Nearly all the tree seeds from the United States were obtained through 
the generous aid of Prof. Asa Gray, of Boston, 
Perhaps the most remarkable of all plants lately brought under cultivation is the deadly 
poisonous Phvsostigma venenosum, the Calabar Ordeal Bean, a plant of tbc utmost importance in 
ophthalmic diseases. The large hard bean was buried fully four years in soil before it germinated. 
