Demerara Botanic Garden.—

The Government of British Guiana have for some time had under consideration the establishment of a botanic garden near the town of Georgetown. I am glad to say that this is now in a fair way of being accomplished. With the permission of the Government of Trinidad, Mr. Prestoe, the Government botanist of that colony, visited British Guiana during the month of September, for the purpose of deciding on a site and furnishing a plan.

Mr. Prestoe writes to me:—The country for miles on the seaboard is one dead level, and this unpleasant feature has been intensified by almost complete denudation in favour of sugar-cane culture. Along the coast the destruction of the 'Cuneda' trees is costing thousands of pounds for artificial breakwaters, to prevent the indefinite encroachment of the sea on the estates. 40,000l. was spent in two years by one company alone for a sea-wall, consisting of hardened mud and bastions, and another large proprietor has spent about 80,000l. in about the same time.

"The dead level operates fatally against the realisation of any design for really beautiful grounds that should, of course, be comprised in in any public gardens, except at enormous expense and prolonged delay, and thus the Guiana gardens will ever be under a great disadvantage. I trust, however, to be able to modify this disadvantage by the formation of a large ornamental lake. The parcel of land available for the gardens, &c. is about 140 acres, and in shape is a parallelogram. Almost the only large trees for miles round are a few Erythrinas, originally planted as an avenue across the ground, and but for these—fortunately a very good and striking feature—the ground is an open flat. The gardens will therefore be a new work in every particular. Extensive drainage works will, of course, be necessary, and the authorities are even prepared to effect it by steampump, if found necessary.

"The Lamaba fresh water canal (of 21 miles length) bounds the future gardens on the north side at an elevation of 4 or 5 feet, so that there will be a ready water supply for dry weather, which is sometimes excessively severe.

"In the design for the garden I intend to make provision for the cultivation of native timber and other economic trees as one of the most important features, with the double effect of familiarising colonists with the features and uses of the components of their vast forests, and furnishing material for study in connexion with forest conservancy, and especially to meet the great requirement of reafforesting the immense tracts of seaboard lands which have been and still are being abandoned for sugar cultivation."