no I 



* 



goveruwent establisliment. The reason is tliat tlie one lias a 

 ^^ margin/' tlie other Las not. It cannot he complained that 

 Kew, in all essentials, is not liberally maintained ; but every item 

 of expenditure is ear-marked, and there is no room for an 

 occasional however judicious extravagance. And this applies 

 equally to other establishments maintained by the State, such as 

 the British Museum and the National Gallery. 



Mr. Chamberlain wanted the people to have the enjoyment at 

 Kew of the best that a rich man could afford, and at least in one 

 instance he helped it to circumvent the difficulty. He insisted 

 that Kew should take up the cultivation of the splendid hybrids 

 of Hippeastrum, Th,ese are costly to buy, and few private gardens 

 ^?an supply the special means for growing them successfully. 

 Lieut. -Col. Sir George Holford, at Westonbirt, is without a rival 

 in this respect, and is the possessor of a strain of exceptionally 

 brilliant colour. To him Mr. Chamberlain appealed, and Sir 

 George arrived one morning at Kew unexpectedly in a hansom cab 

 laden with a noble burden of bulbs from his own collection. This 



ri 



^ve Kew a start, and with, some difficulty a house was adapted to 

 grow tliem. Mr. Chamberlain had himself parchased from Messrs. 

 Yeitch at the price of £25 a single bulb of " Grand Monarch," a 

 cross of exceptional merit : he allowed Kew to breed from it, and 

 the result was " Sir William " and its progeny, a race with large 

 flowers of splendid colour. 



Kew possesses a collection of orchids which from a scientific 

 point of view has no rival. It has been built up by the energy 

 and cultural skill of the present Curator. Mr. Chamberlain 

 thou^-ht that more concession should be made to popular taste in 

 -rowing showy kinds of no more than horticultural attraction, 

 'ew cannot afford to give a thousand guineas for an Odonto- 

 glossum ; nor can it be expected to reflect every whim of passing 

 fashion. Mr. Chamberlain contributed Dendrobium hybrids, the 

 result of crosses made with his own hand. It must have been a 

 gratification to him when in 1913 the munificence of Sir 

 George Holford again realised his larger aim, and the Kew 

 orchids can now appeal equally to the eye and to the intellect. 

 It must not be supposed that in such matters his own taste was 

 otherwise than refined and catholic. He had a wide knowledge of 

 cultivated species. His " button-hole " was no affectation, but a 

 note of aff'ection for the plants from which official life kept him 

 aloof. One night in the House of Commons the late Lord 

 Avebury, then Sir John Lubbock, also appeared with an orchid 

 m his button-liole. Mr. Chamberlain at once pounced upon it 

 as something unknown to him. It was our native Butterfly orchid 

 which Sir John had gathered that morning in his woods at High 

 Elms. It IS not trivial to touch on these matters. In drawing 

 a portrait the small touches are at least as significant as the large 

 outlines. Mr. Chamberlain's aim was throughout consistent; he 

 desired that the splendour of a garden should not be the privilege 

 only of the rich. ^ *^ 



But he rendered an even greater service to Kew The Great 

 Temperate House was projected in 1855 by Sir William Hooker. 

 It was designed as it now stands bv Decimus Burton. In 1862 the 



