129 



difficulty m the attempts of botanists to determine its true 

 amnity; and even now it occupies only a provisional and 

 somewhat doubtful position as a member of the natural order 

 Uiloranthaceae. It was found by Sir R. Strachey in the Ralam 

 Valley at about eight thousand feet above the sea, and has since 

 been collected in Tibet and in North China. 



Sion and Pagoda Vistas.— When 



W 



?«?i^S y ge of the ad J° inm g Botanic Garden since 



1541), w. A. Nesfield, a noted landscape gardener of the time was 



commissioned to prepare a scheme for the treatment of the newly 

 acquired area, both from a landscape point of view and as a 

 national, scientifically-arranged Arboretum. The most notable 

 and enduring features of Nesfield's scheme were the two noble 

 avenues known as the Sion and Pagoda Vistas. 



Although the two great divisions of the "Kew Gardens" of 

 earlier days—the Pleasure Grounds and Botauic Garden— were 

 henceforth under the one management, a light iron fence still 

 divided them, and no attempt beyond the formation of these two 

 vistas (and a shorter one to the west) appears to have been made 

 to blend their landscape treatment. The various plantings on one 

 side of the fence had no bearing or connection with those on the 

 other side. 



As a matter of history it may be mentioned that the iron fence 

 just alluded to was erected in 1843. In that year 45 acres had 

 been taken, by permission of Queen Victoria, from the Pleasure 

 Grounds and added to the old Botanic Garden, which at that 

 time covered under 20 acres. The fence marked the new 

 boundary. It began a little to the north of the Unicorn Gate and 



1 ■ l t ft ■ ■% m m ~ m — _ m 



M 



until it reached the private grounds of Kew Palace. In that 

 position it remained until April, 1805, when it was removed, and 

 the differentiation of "Kew Gardens " into the Botanic Garden 

 and the Pleasure Grounds no longer obtained. 



Since the removal of the fence every opportunity has been taken 

 to blend the two parts of the Gardens, especially by opening up 

 informal vistas and avenues extending from one to the other. 

 These vistas have not only improved the landscape aspect of Kew 

 by giving a sense of greater spaciousness and distance of view, 

 but have also proved useful in providing new routes for visitors 



from 



means 



the fence. One more step was required to link the tw r o parts of 



transition from Botanic Gardens to 



Pleasure Grounds. This, however, involved some modification in 



great 



necessary 



to allow these to remain unaltered. A gravel walk ran along the 



Palm 



The remainder, extending to the Pagoda in the one case and to the 

 banks of the Thames in the other, has long been smooth lawn. 



31393 



c 



