THE HISTORY OF GARDENING 7 



fusion proved, incidentally, to be the first step 

 towards the opening up of Kew to the public. 



The three chief objects which Kew has aimed 

 at from the outset are: 



1. To make of Kew Gardens a pleasure-ground 

 which would stimulate the interest of the general 

 public in the vegetable kingdom and its products. 



2. To encourage and render assistance to scientific 

 botanists, travellers, merchants, and manufacturers. 



3. To train plant collectors and gardeners for 

 home, colonial, and foreign service. 



The Kew training is very thorough, consisting of 

 practical work and lectures, with the added benefit 

 that the student has of becoming familiar with 

 Kew's marvellous collection of plants. 



The lectures comprise a course in physics and 

 chemistry as applied to botany and geology; an- 

 other in general botany; a third on economic 

 plants and their products; and a fourth on geo- 

 graphical botany. During his stay at Kew the 

 young gardener has to collect, mount, and name a 

 herbarium of 250 specimens himself, and at the 

 end of two years he is granted a Kew certificate, 

 provided his work has been satisfactory. 



So from this brief summary it can quite easily be 

 seen that it is during the last century that gardening 

 in all its branches made such a great advance, due 

 to the efforts of many eminent experts, such as 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, who did so much in 

 the improvement of the varieties of hardy fruit; 

 Sir Joseph Paxton, the talented gardener, and 

 designer of the gardens at Chatsworth and the 

 Crystal Palace; Charles Darwin, who rendered 

 such vast service to botany and the improvement 



