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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of pleasure parks, while only a small number are organized on 

 the broader basis of the needs of the branches of botanic science. 

 Thirty-six of these institutions are located in Germany, twenty- 



ViEw OF Main Portion of Tempkrate Hoise of the Royal Gardens at Kew. 

 In process of repair. After a photograph. 



three in Italy, twenty-two in France, thirteen in Austria-Hungary, 

 twelve in Great Britain and Ireland, and ten in the United States. 

 One of the most widely known is the Koyal Botanic Garden at 

 Kew, located on the south bank of the Thames, six miles from 

 Hyde Park. The beginning of the Kew Gardens may be dated 

 from the formation of the exotic gardens of Lord Capel in 1759. 

 After a long series of changes in ownership and purpose, addi- 

 tions and alterations in plan, the gardens were transferred from a 

 private possession of the crown to a national institution in 1840, 

 with Sir William Hooker as the first director. About two hun- 

 dred and seventy acres are included, of which seventy are planted 

 as a botanic garden and the remainder as an arboretum and 

 public park. Besides the large number of well-planned conserva- 

 tories, greenhouses, museums, and other buildings, it contains a 

 number of structures which reflect somewhat of the varied his- 

 tory of the institution. The main palm house is three hundred 

 and sixty-two feet in length, with a central dome seventy feet in 

 height (Plate IV), and the temperate house has a total length of 

 five hundred and eighty feet, covering an area of an acre and a 

 half of ground. In addition, the garden contains fourteen smaller 

 glass houses. The herbarium and library, which occupy the old 



