The Botanical Gardens
Editorial
In Gardener's Diary last Sunday (SN 14.11.99), Mr John Warrington mentioned that in the late 1970's he had arranged for the local Botanical Gardens to receive a very large collection of bromeliads from the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. Along with Ted Hubbard and 'Mac' McKenzie he had set up the display in the nursery, and "it was the finest collection of bromeliads in the West Indies." Need it be said that no trace of the collection is to be found now anywhere in the vicinity? He also referred to a weeping willow which was at one time growing quite well in the Gardens, but which has since gone the same way as the bromeliads. It is hard to believe that our Botanical Gardens were once regarded as being numbered among the leading tropical gardens in the world. Among other things, the research on agricultural crops carried out there - on cacao, coffee, cotton, fibres, fruit and, of course, sugar - was significant for the economy of the country. The Gardens' greatest fame, however, lay in its collection of palms, and only three years after its establishment it already had 51 genera and 109 species of Palmaceae. It is sometimes forgotten too that the site selected for the gardens in 1878 required the investment of an enormous amount of money and time to transform. On arrival here in December of that year, J.F. Waby the new Head Gardener said gloomily that he wished he could send his family back on the same steamer, since there was no house, no garden and "nothing but mud and rank vegetation." The Government, however, sank thousands into draining the swampy terrain, and innumerable workmen toiled for endless man hours creating a garden out of the mire. Not to be overlooked either are the generations of gardeners and botanists whose application and expertise gave the local Botanical Gardens its once exalted reputation. And look what has become of all this money and effort. Amputated and neglected the Botanical Gardens are barely worthy of the name. Certainly, the front, manicured portion is usually kept tidy, but no one bothers very much about collecting, researching and propagating botanical specimens any longer. Opposite the Cultural Centre earlier this month some people were ostensibly living in the Gardens, and their washing flapping on a line strung between two trees was plainly visible from the road. The rot began under the late President Burnham when he bisected the Gardens with a road, utilized some of the land for a farm, and denied the public access to the back portion. Over the years the powers that be seemed to forget what the institution was all about, and it lost the tradition of being a repository of knowledge and a centre for research. The present Government appears to have given up on it altogether, and harbours vulgar plans for 'developing' the area which Mr Burnham fenced off. At the moment, the National Parks Commission which has responsibility for the Gardens falls under the Ministry of Trade and Tourism. Logically speaking since their primary function is not really decorative, they should be transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, if we are to restore the Botanical Gardens to a semblance of anything like what they used to be (and in the process enhance their tourism potential) the Government should first commission some professional assistance to do an assessment of what the options are. The soul of a nation resides in its intellectual tradition. The local intellectual tradition has been severed in so many fields, and it is incumbent on any administration to do what it can to reinvigorate it. The Botanical Gardens is one of the places to start.
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