Sale of Plants.
The total number of plants sold was 1,267; they realised $365.41. In 1886 the plants which were sold realised $409.35, and the number sold was 1,918.
As the plants in the Gardens are now labelled to a sufficient extent to enable visitors to ascertain the name of any tree, shrub, or plant which is cultivated in the Gardens, I would take this opportunity of advising would-be purchasers to make their choice of plants from an inspection of the larger speci- mens throughout the Gardens which show better what purposes the plants are suitable for than the small specimens kept in stock for sale in the nursery, to which the public generally confine their attention.
Statue.
I regret to have to chronicle the loss of shrubs and trees of great beauty which had taken 20 years of fostering care to bring them to the condition they were in before their destruction in order to provide a site-which had been selected two or three years ago for the erection of the statue which was placed in the Gardens towards the close of the year. The Gardens have not been benefited by the change which was made in them, nor yet does it appear that the statue itself has obtained a posi- tion which is the best that could have been desired for the exhibition of such a fine and costly work of art.
In view of these disadvantages it is to be hoped that the removal of the statue may receive some consideration when the day arrives for it.
I might here submit that the interests of the Gardens should have a strong claim to be repre sented by special professional judgment when the introduction of foreign objects is contemplated. The site for the statue was selected by a body of gentlemen and approved by the Government without the knowledge of, or any reference for an opinion froin, the Superintendent of the Gardens.
Teff (Eragrostis Abyssinica.)
This is a cereal indigenous to Abyssinia. It produces small seeds from which is obtained an excellent flour that is extensively used in Abyssinia as an article of food. The Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, obtained from Abyssinia a quantity of seeds of it for distribution to Colonial and other gardens for experimental cultivation. This garden received some of the seeds; they were sown on March 10th, and germinated well, and the seedlings grew rapidly and ripened their seeds in the middle of July, that is, only four months elapsed from the sowing of the seeds to the harvesting of the crop; the yield was abundant. Seeds were distributed amongst native agriculturists and information on the nature of the cereal was given to them, but the recipients of the seeds do not seem to have done any- thing with them so far as I have been able to learn.
DISTRIBUTION AND INTERCHANGE OF PLANTS AND SEEDS.
Exchanges have been conducted as far as circumstances permitted. Two hundred and seventy- six packets and parcels of seeds, weighing fifty pounds, and one thousand four hundred and twenty- nine plants were received. One hundred and twenty-two packets and parcels of seeds, weighing seventy pounds, and one thousand six hundred and twenty-seven plants were distributed.
The following are the lists of recipients and donors of plants and seeds :--
Anderson, Colonel.
Apcar, A. P.
Armstrong, J. M.
Bell-Irving, Mrs.
Recipients.
Botanic Gardens, Adelaide.
Bombay.
Mauritius.
21
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Melbourne.
11
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Natal.
Port Darwin.
Queensland.
Saharanpur, India.
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21
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31
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Saigon.
Singapore.
Darby, W. F.
Fisher, Dr.
Forest Department, Penang. French Convent.
Grant, J.
Gardener, Captain.
Government Civil Hospital.
Grossmann, C. F.
Henry, Rev. B. C., Canton.
Humphreys, J. D.
Italian Convent.
Ladies' Recreation Club,
Police Stations.
Queensland Acclimatisation Society, Brisbane. Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta.
17
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25
Tasmania.
Townsville.
Botanical Department, Jamaica. Burghignoli, Very Rev. Father. Cook, Mrs. Creagh, C. V.
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Ceylon. Kew, London.
Schultz, Captain, Perak. Stone-Cutters' Island Powder Depôt. Veitch & Sons, Messrs. J., London. Vaucher, A. E.
1