Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

“ What Loudon called the “gardenesque” school of landscape naturally makes particular use of trees. By common consent the arboretum in the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew is one of the finest in the world. Its beginnings may be traced back to 1762, when, at the suggestion of Lord Bute, the duke of Argyll’s trees and shrubs were removed from Whitton Place, near Hounslow, to adorn the princess of Wales’s garden at Kew. The duke’s collection was famous for its cedars, pines and firs. ”

“ Kew Garden is one of the most popular places of resort in England. Some 700,000 people visit it annually, and the least educated of all this multitude cannot pass through it without learning something. The exotic plants nurtured in the hot-houses; the indigenous and naturalized plants blooming in the gardens; the dried specimens preserved in the herbarium; the various objects of curiosity treasured up in the three museums of economic botany—vie with each other in claiming the attention of even the most indifferent observer. ”

“ Kew Gardens contain what seems the completest botanical collection in the world, handicapped as it is by a climate at the antipodes of Eden, and by a soil that owes less to Nature than to patient art. Before being given up to public pleasure and instruction, this demesne was a royal country seat, specially favoured by George III. That homely King had two houses here and began to build a more pretentious palace, a design cut short by his infirmities, but for which Kew might have usurped the place of Windsor. ”

“ He practically founded Kew Gardens as the great botanical gardens of the metropolis, he threw himself enthusiastically into what may be called economic botany, and was the first person who advocated the use of indiarubber in various industries, and the cultivation of rubber-bearing trees and plants. ”

“ Our most tenderly nursed enclosures might cut a poor figure in a climate that does its own gardening. With all the money spent at Kew, one can imagine what results might be produced, where, outside of the Gardens, Miss North could draw a picture far more highly coloured than anything fairly to be said for Kew Green, or for the Thames bank at Brentford. ”

“ Previously the cultivation of a plant began in the country where it existed, whereas the Australian Eucalyptus was first planted and sown in Algeria, and the Cinchonas of America in the south of Asia. Up to our own day botanical or private gardens had only diffused species already cultivated somewhere; now they introduce absolutely new cultures. The royal garden at Kew is distinguished in this respect, and other botanical gardens and acclimatization societies in England and elsewhere are making similar attempts. ”

“ Nature furnishes the living material for study at a less outlay of time and money than in the old way of growing the plants for the purpose. Few modern botanic gardens have the fame of those of the past. It is the great Herbarium of Kew, rather than the living plants, that makes that famous spot the great school for botany to-day. In our own country, the Herbariums of Cambridge, Mass.; Columbia College, New York; the National at Washington; and that of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, are the most famous in America. ”

“ There is no monotony in this agreeable employment, for new varieties are continually springing up in nature; and a visit to the Botanical Gardens at Kew, or the Regent's Park, will at all seasons afford some fresh specimen. ”

“ A little farther off is Richmond Park with 2,253 acres, the largest park near London. Then comes Windsor with 3,800, and Hampton Court and Bushey Park 1,842 each, and finally Kew Park and Gardens (the finest botanic garden in England) , containing 684 acres. Most of them date back for centuries. Kew Garden is remarkable for its neatness, and hundreds of thousands annually visit it. In the vicinity are refreshment houses, kept in good order, which make the gardens a favorite place of resort, on Sundays as well other days. ”

“ Rival poets celebrated “the much sung grotto of the Queen,” one under the sly pseudonym of “Peter Drake, a fisherman of Brentford,” making fun of Stephen Duck, the so-called thresher-poet.
The widowed Princess of Wales, prompted by her friend Bute, showed a warm interest in horticulture; and under her was nursed the Botanic Garden of exotic plants that became the special feature of the Kew grounds. They were laid out by Lancelot Brown, a self-taught gardener, so celebrated in his day as to be known by the name of “Capability” Brown. ”

“ Watson, assistant curator of the Royal Kew Gardens, says he gathers up bushels of leaves in the palm-houses every morning while a bad fog lasts, and after a long spell of it many hard-wooded as well as the more delicate plants are reduced to an unsightly condition of almost bare stems, blotched and discoloured leaves, and fallen foliage. ”

“ But why not apply it to the already existing Central Park, which has abundant room and all that is needed for the establishment of a complete botanical garden, and would gain immensely by it in usefulness and beauty? With a million dollars all could be provided on the same grand scale that the Kew Garden of London possesses in plantations, hot-houses, and botanical museums; moreover, a large sum of money alone will no more make a great botanical garden than it will a great university. ”

“ The need of it had already been clearly before the minds of the Parliamentary Commission, appointed a few years before, with Dr Lindley as chairman, to report upon the question of the retaining of the Botanic Gardens at Kew. The report contained the following passage which, while it formulates an ideal then to be aimed at, summarises in great measure the activities of the present establishment at Kew. "The wealthiest and most civilised country in Europe offers the only European example of the want of one of the first proofs of wealth and civilisation. ”

“ Aiton certainly rose to be no mere working gardener, who published a catalogue of the plants at Kew. He held his post till towards the end of the century, and was then succeeded by his son William Townsend Aiton, to rule at Kew for half a century more; while another son, John, had charge of the royal gardens at Windsor and at Kensington. ”

“ As the Kew Gardens flourished, those of Richmond had withered away. The royal pleasure-grounds on that side were turned into George III.’s model farm, then into a park, which has become a golf-course and a recreation-ground, though it was only the other day that its quasi-public character came to be fully recognised by a foot-bridge thrown over the muddy moat cutting off this enclosure from the river-bank. ”

“ This species of Bell-flower, which takes its name from its place of growth, is a native of the Carpatian Alps, and was introduced into the Royal Garden at Kew, by Professor Jacquin, of Vienna, in the year 1774.
It flowers in June and July.
As yet it is scarce in our gardens, but deserves to be more generally known and cultivated; its flowers, in proportion to the plant, are large and shewy: like many other Alpine plants, it is well suited to decorate certain parts of rock-work, or such borders of the flower garden, as are not adapted for large plants. ”

“ Banks, indeed, a wealthy man who sought no salaried post, appears to have been practically the scientific authority of Kew Gardens in his lifetime, well deserving the royal confidence, though he came in for his share of caricaturing as a Court favourite. His picture, and those of other noted botanists, are treasured in the Kew Museums, where the mere literary man will often be put to shame to find how many names he never heard, live not forgotten among the votaries of a special study. ”

“ And weeds and thistles overspread the field;
Till royal George, and heav’nly Caroline
Bid Nature in harmonious lustre shine;
The sacred fiat thro’ the chaos rung
And symmetry from wild disorder sprung.
But Nature might not be trusted to shine here by her own unvarnished charms; and the Richmond Gardens were bedecked with “follies” in the taste of the time: “Merlin’s Cave,” that appears to have housed a waxwork collection as well as the library of which Stephen Duck was keeper; a hermitage, inhabited by busts of distinguished men ”

“ It is true that the Victoria has not yet produced its blossoms in England:, but we have growing plants in the Royal Gardens of Kew, which germinated from seeds brought from Bolivia by Mr. Bridges. These have hitherto made satisfactory progress; although we have our fears that the plant being possibly annual and the season late (December) , they may not survive the winter; or, at any rate, may not produce perfect flowers. Many are the disappointments and delays of Science! ”

“ At the time of Sir William's appointment Kew itself was in a very unsatisfactory state. The acreage of the garden was small compared with what it now is. The houses were old, and of patterns which have long become obsolete. Only two of them are now standing, viz. the Aroid house near the great gates, and the old Orangery, now used as a museum for timbers. There was no library, and no herbarium. In fact Kew in 1841 was simply an appanage to a palace, where a more than usually extensive collection of living plants were grown. ”

“ This species, conspicuous by its tall woody stems, large purple blossoms, and delicate foliage, was brought to the Royal Gardens at Kew from India by Mrs. Norman, about the year 1769. It is a plant of quick growth, and blossoms freely, but has never produced any pods in this country. ”

“ This short grass is, indeed, quite lost to economy; but beauty and utility cannot always be combined, and the latter must certainly be subordinate in a pleasure-ground, or it is better to relinquish all pretensions to one. Kew, which is on the opposite bank of the river, unquestionably possesses the most complete collection of exotic plants in Europe. The park has also a great advantage in its beautiful situation on the Thames, but is in general rather neglected. ”

“ In the Royal Gardens, Kew, the best of plants may be seen and, to a considerable degree, the best ways of using them in gardens.
GROUPING OF SHRUB AND DAFFODIL.
The one-thing-at-a-time planting is always a safe guide, but as the planter gains a firmer grasp of his subject, so he may exercise more freedom in its application. Nearly every garden, shrubbery, and ornamental tree plantation is spoilt or greatly marred by too great a mixture of incongruous growths. Nothing wants more careful consideration. ”

“ This idea of ventilating greenhouses he carried out in a plant house designed by him for the Dowager Princess of Wales, in which warm fresh air was admitted. The house in question was built in 1761 in the Princess's garden at Kew, which afterwards became what we now know as Kew Gardens. ”

“ Of Kew Gardens, which stretch beside the River from the Old Deer Park almost to Kew Bridge, it is difficult for one who loves nature to speak in moderate terms, for it is one of the most delightful places in the whole of our land. At every season of the year, almost every day, there is some fresh enchantment, some glory of tree or flower unfolding itself, so that one can go there year after year, week in and week out, without exhausting its treasure-house of wonders, even though there is only a matter of 350 acres to explore. ”

“ The youthful gardener, who lives near a large nursery, park, or place like Kew, Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, near Dublin, the Botanic Gardens at Edinburgh, the gardens of the Crystal Palace, at Sydenham, or many places of this kind, would do well to examine specimens of the kinds named, or indeed any others, so that he may take his choice; making sure to inquire, however, that the particular kind he selects is perfectly hardy: a tree may be quite hardy in one part of the country, and quite tender in another. ”

“ Gardens appear to be an old story in this neighbourhood. The Monastery of Sheen, that stood on the flats somewhere about the present Observatory, was equipped with its orchard, vineyard, and other enclosures, through which the holy fathers, like those of Melrose, would be able to make “good kail, on Fridays when they fasted”; and let us trust that suppressed spite never drove them, as in a certain Spanish cloister, to keep a brother’s pet flowers “close-nipped on the sly.”
Kew’s connection with botany is as old as the Tudor time, when Dr. William Turner had a garden here. ”

“ He got a place at the Physic Garden of Chelsea, and thence, perhaps by patronage of Bute, was put in charge of the Princess Dowager’s Botanic Garden, whose reputation throve with his own. His functions must have grown beyond the limits of the Botanic Garden, then only a few acres, for this was the Scotsman who set Cobbett to work, among other jobs, at sweeping up leaves by the Pagoda, on the farther side of the Kew grounds. John Rogers, who worked in the gardens at this time, says that on the death [102] of the elder Haverfield, Aiton came into the entire management both at Kew and Richmond. ”

“ The Arnold Arboretum, more nearly comparable in size with the New York Botanical Garden than is Kew, but because of its confinement to woody plants presenting less administrative difficulties in controlling public abuse of its collections than is the case where more strictly garden-like elements are involved, has roads open to the public in the daytime, but it is completely closed at night and up to the present time the roads have not been open to automobiles. ”