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H. H. W. PEARSON, F.R.S., Sc.D. 
explorations enormously extended our knowledge of the richness of the floras 
of South Africa and who by his manifold activities and sound commonsense 
succeeded in demonstrating to the layman the value of botanical research. 
Theie can be no doubt that the credit for this addition to the efficiency of 
the Empire is mainly due to Pearson, though he would not admit that he was 
entitled to more than a comparatively small share in the events which led 
the Government to take the final step. The project was first put forward 
in a concrete form in his Presidential address before Section C of the South 
African Association for the Advancement of Science in 1910. He advocated 
concentrated action by the South African Colonies with a view to the full 
development of their unrivalled botanical resources and formulated a scheme 
worthy of a many-sided and far-sighted botanist. The Garden should be 
a centre of botanical activity in the widest sense; it should be concerned 
with botanical exploration, the cultivation of indigenous plants, and experi- 
mental work. He dwelt on the neglect of the native plants and stated that 
more South African species are cultivated in European gardens than at the 
Cape. The Garden should include a National Herbarium, a Museum of 
Economic Botany, a Library, and Research Laboratories. He emphasised 
the importance of grasping the fundamental truth that the true springs of 
South African development are within and not oversea. The Garden should 
also be an “expression of the intellectual and artistic aspirations of the new 
nation whose duty it is to foster the study of the country which it occupies, 
to encourage a proper appreciation of the rare and beautiful with which 
Nature has so lavishly endowed it.” In an article on a ‘State Botanic 
Garden’ while advocating the importance of economic questions Pearson 
urged the importance of pure science : “ problems which appear to be of 
merely academic interest to-day may be of unmeasured practical importance 
to-morrow.” 
In reply to a request for a statement as to his share in the foundation of 
the Garden, Pearson wrote on March 13, 1914, “I do not really think I can 
say what has been my share in the formation of these gardens. I daresay 
they would not have been in existence just now but for my address to the 
South African Association in 1910. But since then a good many people have 
been prominent in the movement Having been fairly constantly in the fray 
for three years I do not think I am well able to judge how much each ol us 
contributed towards the result and I fear that I should be more likely to 
exaggerate the importance of my own efforts than those of anyone else. 
On April 16, 1912, he wrote: “I have got the Botanic Garden movement 
going strong just now. We have a deputation to the Prime Minister and lie 
asks for a minutely detailed scheme. The site I have chosen (and which tin 
Committee has approved) is a fine estate, 321 acres in extent, belonging to 
the Government (a part of the Rhodes estate) and now for many years dt uln t 
