81 



MR. GEORGE NICHOLSON. 



By the courtesy of the Editor of the Garden we are enabled to 

 reproduce the very excellent portrait of the Curator of Kew Gardens, 

 to whom the last volume is fittingly dedicated. British botanists 

 have reason to regret that the cares of office have so absorbed Mr. 

 Nicholson's time that he has been unable of late years to continue 

 the investigation of our Flora which he was at one time prosecuting 

 with so much enthusiasm ; our own pages have borne abundant 

 evidence of his capability in that direction. 



As "the distinguished practical head" of 'f Kew [Gardens — to 

 quote the Garden notice — Mr. Nicholson has done much to improve 

 the disposition of the collections under his care. He has been 

 associated with Kew since 1873, when he became clerk to the 

 Curator of the Gardens, and in 1886 he was promoted to the post 

 rendered vacant by the death of Mr. John Smith. " The ideal 

 curator of such an establishment as Kew," says Mr. Robinson, 

 "must be a man of varied acquirements, both practical and 

 scientific ; he must also possess considerable administrative 

 ability. Mr. Nicholson is probably the nearest approach to this 

 ideal that Kew has possessed since Alton's time." His special 



Journal of Botany. — Vol. 84. [Feb. 1896.] g 



