Dr. Edgar Adams releases new book ‘Botanic Gardens’

This being his eleventh publication, Dr. Edgar Adams’ recently released book charts the rise and fall of the oldest botanic garden in the Western Hemisphere – St. Vincent’s very own Botanic Garden!{{more}}

The book, ‘The St. Vincent Botanic Garden 1765 – 2009’, aims to “enlarge the available history of the St. Vincent Botanic Garden by recording more information than what has been previously published.” It also focuses on the origins of the garden, and lauds the contributions of early pioneers in bringing it to life. According to Richard A. Howard (in ‘The History of the Botanic Garden of St. Vincent, British West Indies): “The historic role of this old garden in introducing, testing, developing, propagating and distributing economic and horticultural plants for the American tropics has assured it a position as one of the most important botanical gardens of all times.”

Adams’ book also highlights the events that hindered and eventually ceased the progression of the garden. These included the First and Second Carib Wars, the French occupation of the island from 1779 – 1783, damage suffered from two violent hurricanes, poor management of the garden by George Caley from 1816 – 1822, and the abandonment of the garden from 1849 until 1890, amongst others.

The book also delves into the present state of the Botanic Garden, and expresses a desire to see some of its former glory restored before its 250th anniversary in 2015. There is an insert of photographs highlighting some of the flora and fauna currently present in the garden, and a 2009 list of plant species available there.

Adams most recent endeavour began when he received a request in April 2009 for more in depth information to be produced on the Botanic Garden, and suggestions on how it can be made “more economically viable.” In May 2009, he commenced research, and then started weaving together his findings to produce a thorough yet easy-to-read publication.

Adams asserted that it is important for locals to take an interest in our history and contribute to the process of documenting it so that our side of the story can be related without the European colonialist bias. “We must accept that quite a bit of it was done with a bias… we have the whole of our history that we must now tackle.”

He also lamented the fact that more locally written history texts on St. Vincent and the Grenadines are not included in the school curriculum. “When we see school children going down the road with those big canisters of books on their backs, none of those are written by Vincentian authors.” Adams insists that more needs be done on the part of the Ministry of Education and the nation’s teachers to get these texts included in the school syllabus.

The book are available at several bookstores including Gaymes Book centre, R & M Adams book centre and Christian Books ‘n Things, at a cost of EC$40. (JSV)