AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, HYGIENE AND SANITARY SCIENCE. PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION: Professor H. H. W. PEARSON, M.A., Sc.D., F.L.S. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2. The President delivered the following address:— In these days of specialisation, to address a body of workers representing the various departments of the Science in which one is particularly interested, upon a subject on which one is more or less qualified to speak, is a sufficiently formidable undertaking. To be called upon to engage the interest and attention of the representatives of the range of scientific activity of which this Section takes cognisance-the vast field covered by Bacteriology, Botany, Zoology, Agriculture, Forestry, Physiology, Hygiene and Sanitary Science-is a task which is hardly less than appalling. When, therefore, the Council did me the honour to place me in this position, the choice of a subject in which these few remarks should be centred presented very serious difficulties. To ask you to listen to a discussion in which not more than a small proportion of the members of this section could pretend to be interested did not commend itself; to attempt a review of questions of predominant interest in even a few of the sciences represented here was to commit the offence of dealing with matters of which I know little or nothing. I shall, therefore, make use of this exceptional opportunity of appealing to so broadly constituted a body of workers in biological science, to discuss a topic presenting few technicalities but, nevertheless, one of considerable National importance, and one which I venture to hope will claim the interest of every member of the section. The subject I have chosen is no new one; it has been before the South African public on many occasions and in many guises. But so far as I am aware it has never before been offered in a more or less definite form for the consideration of a general assembly of those who, by the character of their training and the nature of their occupations, are especially concerned with the scientific and economic development of the country, and it has certainly never been discussed under circumstances in which it is so likely to be favourably regarded as at present. This meeting of the Association witnesses the consummation of the Union of South Africa and, therefore, there could be no more fitting occasion on which to advocate advances or reforms calculated to benefit the country whose interests we have at heart. I therefore invite you to consider with me the question of the establishment of a National Botanic Garden. It is a subject of such far-reaching importance to a Pastoral and an Agricultural South Africa that I enter upon it with some trepidation lest any ill-considered words of mine should tend rather to hinder than to forward an object with which I am convinced that this section as a whole will be in full sympathy. The country is so vast, its people so scattered and the interests of different sections of the population in many respects so divergent, that one whose outlook has of necessity been somewhat circumscribed and whose knowledge of the great spaces now united under one Government is somewhat limited, can hardly hope to avoid some of the pitfalls with which this question is beset. But these disabilities may confer at least one advantage; they perhaps prevent me from being overcome at the outset by the magnitude of the difficulties which lie in the way of the achievement of the purpose I am advocating. That this is a real advantage I do not doubt; for the difficulties, great as they may be, will none of them prove insurmountable when we reach them. The chief danger of which I am conscious at the outset is that, in the attempt to take a broad view of this question, less than justice should be done to the excellent institutions, variously known as "Public," Municipal" or "Botanic Gardens, which are scattered up and down the country. They are all alike in that they have done and are doing very useful work which deserves all the support that they receive. In the Cape Province alone there are twenty such gardens receiving in 1909, Government grants varying from £9 15s. to £500, and amounting in all to £1,691. Whatever titles they bear, however, these are not Botanic Gardens in any true sense; the more restricted functions of Municipal Gardens they perform with great credit to their supporters and curators, and no one in advocating the foundation of a truly National Botanic Garden would wish to see their usefulness impaired. On the contrary, they could not but be strengthened by the establishment of such a National institution. The Natal Botanic Garden stands apart from the rest. It has played no small part in the economic development of the province which it serves and from it has emanated taxonomiz work of a high scientific value. On its establishment, more than half a century ago, it received an annual grant of £50 from the Government. This was gradually raised to £350. In addition, the Government contributed, in 1909-10, £260 towards the upkeep of the Herbarium and in aid of the publications proceeding from it. The total income of the establishment in 1909-10 was £2,353 14s. 6d., of which £1,236 19s. 7d. was derived from the sale of plants. It follows, therefore, that the proper work of a Botanic Garden has been very largely subordinated to the necessity of maintaining what MacOwan called "the perpetual fight against insolvency." But, hampered as its activities have been in this respect as well as by its unsuitable locality, unfruitful soil and restricted space (50 acres), it has consistently striven to fulfil the functions of a Botanic Garden. The measure of success which it has achieved is due to the skill and enthusiasm with which it has been guided for more than 28 years by Mr. Medley Wood, its able and respected director. The oldest of the South African Gardens-the Municipal Gardens of Cape Town-was established under the name of a Botanic Garden in 1848. The objects of the founders, as stated on the subscribers' tickets were: I. To introduce from all parts of the globe useful, ornamental and fruitbearing trees, shrubs, plants, flowers and vegetables, and to promote their distribution and culture throughout Southern Africa. 2. To afford an acclimating resting-place and depôt for exotics in the course of interchange between the eastern and western hemispheres. 3. To afford facilities for the study of Botany as a science and in connection with the horticulture and agriculture of the Cape and for training practical gardeners. 4. To provide, for the recreation and amusement of the public and strangers, a garden with shady walks, arbours, seats, fountains, green-houses and a display of the choicest and most delicate flowers. These include some of the important functions of a Botanic Garden as this terms is now understood, and the fact that Ludwig Pappe, Karl Zeyher and Peter MacOwan are among those who have controlled its destinies is a sufficient guarantee that a real effort was made to establish here a garden worthy of the name and of the place. And, indeed, the Cape Town Garden has in the past done a great deal in introducing exotic plants into cultivation. But those responsible for its management maintained a long but losing strife against unsuitable locality, poor soil, too limited space, lack of water, inadequate funds and the consequent grinding necessity of making the bulk of the income from the sale of produce. The functions of a Botanic Garden were swamped, and all pretence in this direction was finally abandoned in 1891 when it was taken over by the Municipality. It became, as MacOwan foretold, "but a town pleasaunce of flowers and shady walks," and, indeed it could never have been anything greater. This purpose it fulfils admirably, and it is now, probably more than it ever was before, a credit to the city and to the Corporation as to its curator, Mr. Ridley, whose skill in carrying out many recent improvements is deserving of all praise. Mention should also be made of two experiment stations recently established in the Transvaal. Skinner's Court in Pretoria, brought into cultivation as a forest nursery in 1902, became a garden for the experimental cultivation of economic plants in 1904. A second station of the same kind, with 25 acres under cultivation, was opened at Springbok Flats in the Waterberg district in 1903. Both these are therefore in their infancy, but so far as can be judged from the available published information concerning them, they will perform some of the important functions of a botanic garden which have hitherto received little attention in South Africa. The organisation of the Cape Public Gardens has at various times been the subject of comment from men whose opinions in these matters are worthy of our attention. Space does not permit me to notice these so fully as might be desirable, but the general agreement among those who have placed their views on record really renders it unnecessary. It is only fitting that I should commence with our distinguished botanist, Dr. Bolus, whose great knowledge of South African botany, and intimate acquaintance with the conditions and the needs of South Africa, entitle his opinions to our most respectful attention. In the course of his evidence before a Parliamentary Committee in 1877, Dr. Bolus made statements of which the following is a paraphrase: "I consider the Botanic Gardens of Cape Town a great discredit, not only to the town but to the Colony altogether. They are wanting in proper arrangement. There is no satisfactory attention to the nomenclature of the trees and shrubs. There is a great want of a proper representation of Colonial plants, which ought to be the first thing attended to, and there is not a proper communication maintained with the other Botanic Gardens of the world. I think one of the causes of their unsatisfactory state is the totally wrong locality that has been chosen for them. They should be a Botanic Garden of a national character and under the control of Government, and should place themselves in communication with and assist all the other Botanic Gardens in the Colony." Many conditions have changed since these words were first printed, but the botanic garden which Dr. Bolus wished to see has yet to be established. A distinguished Indian botanist and forester, Mr. J. S. Gamble, F.R.S., visited the Cape in 1890. His intimate knowledge of the botanical establishments of India invests his remarks with particular interest. He says: or "As for the Botanic Gardens [of Cape Town], they are simply a disappointment, though the Director, Prof. MacOwan, does his best with the small sums available. The stag-headed appearance of the chief trees points to what is the actual fact, a water-logged subsoil, the bed of an old river, while the untidy and unkempt appearance of the Gardens shows clearly the little interest taken by the Colony in Botanical Science, and points to a want of appreciation of the benefits which a really well-conducted botanical headquarters station can confer on a country which is, after all, chiefly agricultural. . . I was in hopes, when I visited the Garden, of finding a named collection of the Cape heaths, the Proteas, the Geraniums, the Gladioli and the other chief constituents of the beautiful and most interesting 'bush' veldt' vegetation; but the Gardens had not even a single silver-tree to show a stranger, and the heaths, and indeed all flowering plants, were conspicuous by their absence. What ought to be done is to convert the present Botanic Garden into a small park and throw it open to the public, handing it over to the Municipality, who would probably then try to make it as pretty and interesting as such parks are everywhere in Europe as well as in America, India and Australia. And then a new Botanic Garden should be made on suitable soil near some one of the stations on the suburban railway, such as Rosebank or Rondebosch or even Wynberg, and of an area of at least 200 acres so that it might have plenty of space not only to grow and exhibit the indigenous flora but to experiment with exotics. And the absurd idea of such an institution 'paying' should be totally abandoned. If this were done, under the best management, and with a really good herbarium and botanical museum, the Botanic Gardens of Cape Town would be to the Colony what Kew' is to England, the Calcutta Gardens to India, or Peradeniya to Ceylon. A good Botanic Garden would pay indirectly if it did not directly." Apropos of the transfer of the Cape Town Garden to the Municipality in 1891, the following comments appeared in the Official Bulletin of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: "It is to be hoped, however, that botanical enterprise at the Cape has not so entirely died out that it may not be possible at some future time to establish a Botanical Garden, under scientific control worthy of the Colony and of its vast and valuable resources. The Cape Flora is one of the most interesting in the world. A large number of very interesting and highlyvaluable plants belonging to this Flora are gradually becoming extinct. The opportunity for preserving them for observation and investigation will soon pass away. A National Garden, maintained by Government and under suitable scientific control, affords the most satisfactory means for preserving and studying such plants, and this duty is recognised in every important Colony of the Empire. If suitable land, with the necessary climate for a Botanical Garden, could be obtained within easy reach of Cape Town, it is in every way desirable that the idea should not be lost sight of, and that the Government should recognise the duty of providing such a Garden as one of the national institutions of the country. "Its economic influence, directly and indirectly, upon the development of the vegetable resources of the Colony, may be gathered from the results that have accrued to other Colonies from similar institutions. These, however, are hardly more important than the scientific value attached to the preservation of the singularly interesting plants of South Africa. Such plants could only be successfully cultivated and preserved in an institution where they could be arranged and grown under circumstances entirely removed from the merely local interest engendered by municipal control.” That it may not be supposed that the Cape Town Gardens alone have attracted the attention of those interested in botanical enterprise in South Africa, I will conclude these quotations with two which have broader references. The Director of the Forests and Botanic Gardens of Mauritius, recording his impressions of South Africa, formed in 1883, says: — "I travelled from Algoa Bay overland to Cape Town. I visited all the Botanic Gardens at the Cape, namely, Port Elizabeth, Graham's Town and Cape Town. They, in many respects, are most disappointing, being Botanic Gardens merely in name. The directors and curators are not to blame for this, but the Gardens have to justify their existence and support themselves by the sale of plants. They are simply nursery establishments, and the stock on hand, generally speaking, is such as one finds in the nurseries at home, stove or tropical plants excepted. They seem to supply a want, the Graham's Town one especially, in supplying the Colonists with flowers, shrubs, and useful fruiting and flowering trees. Should, however, a stranger like myself wish to see African plants he need not look in these Gardens for them." And finally I will repeat some interesting observations made by the Director of Kew in 1895, with reference to the transfer of the Public Gardens of King William's Town to the Corporation: : "At the present moment Cape Colony is the only important British Possession which does not possess a fully-equipped Botanical Institution. It is true it possesses a fine Colonial Herbarium under the competent charge of Professor MacOwan and an Agricultural Department which he efficiently advises on botanical subjects. But beyond this it has no central authority dealing with the practical aspects of the Science of Botany, and no gardens under technical control where careful experimental cultivation could be carried on or where special seeds and plants could be obtained for starting new industries. This condition of affairs is scarcely creditable to a large and wealthy community like that at the Cape. The town gardens now established in the more important centres of population in Cape Colony are likely to be useful as breathing spaces and as ornamental adjuncts to public buildings. As purely pleasure gardens, supported by the municipality out of the local rates, they will also have their own special value. It was entirely a misnomer to call them Botanic Gardens and it is as well that the name was changed and their proper character officially recognised. Something, however, more than an ornamental garden, dotted here and there, is required in South Africa. A central establishment in the neighbourhood of Cape Town devoted to the scientific study and experimental cultivation of plants, fully equipped to discharge its duties as a national institution on the lines of Kew, would alone be worthy of the future of South Africa. |