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XLIII.— VISIT OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. 
Her Majesty the Queen was graciously pleased to pay a visit 
to the Royal Botanic Gardens, on Tuesday, November 27th 
in order to plant a specimen of the Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo 
biloba) on the site of the Temple of the Sun, which was destroyed 
in the gale of March 1916. 
The Temple of the Sun was built in 1761 for Princess Augusta 
of Saxe-Gotha, Dowager Princess of Wales, from the designs of 
Sir William Chambers, and occupied a position at about the centre 
of the Botanic Garden which Her Royal Highness had founded 
in 1760 and which was the origin of the present Gardens. 
Near the site of this Temple stands the fine Maidenhair Tree 
planted between 1760 and 1762 either by the Princess of Wales 
or by her botanical adviser, the Earl of Bute, and Her Majesty, 
by planting a young Ginkgo Tree on this historic spot, has in a 
very interesting manner maintained the Royal interest in Kew 
which has existed since 1730, when Frederick Prince of Wales 
obtained a lease of the property from the Earl of Essex. 
The ceremony was a purely private one. Her Majesty was 
received at the Main Gate of the Gardens by the Director, and 
walked to the site where the Curator and the tree movers were 
in waiting, a young tree having been moved into position with 
the transplanting machine. After the machine and coverings 
had been taken away and the ball of earth holding the roots 
laid bare, Her Majesty, using an ordinary garden spade, placed 
several spits of earth on the roots of the tree. 
Before leaving she spoke for some time with each of those 
who had been concerned with the moving of the tree, and enquired 
about the surrounding trees, some of which are the oldest exotic 
specimens in the Gardens. The fine old Ginkgo was also inspected, 
and Her Majesty was pleased to accept a pressed spray bearing 
the leaves, and also a photograph of the tree and one showing the 
Temple of the Sun. : 
It was very unfortunate that a dense fog enveloped the Gardens 
on the morning of the planting, yet despite the fog and cold, Her 
Majesty braved the adverse conditions and most kindly carried 
out the task which she had promised to perform. 
XLIV.—MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
Dr. 8. C. Hartanp.—We learn that Dr. S. C. Harland 
formerly of the Agricultural Experiment Station, St. Croix, and 
later Assistant Agricultural Superintendent, St. Vincent, has 
been appointed Professor of Botany at The Imperial College of 
Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad, in succession to Mr. T.G. Mason 
transferred to Nigeria. (K.B. 1914, p. 345; 1915, p. 181.) 
