86 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and labourers. The herbarium and museums are staffed by 

 systematic botanists and economic botanists, respectively. The 

 gardens cover 288 acres. The party was taken through a 

 garden planted with rambling roses, and it was explained that 

 this garden was, over thirty years ago, a gravel pit from which 

 gravel had to be dug for the garden paths. The Indian horse 

 chestnut {Aesculus indica) was seen in full flower. In many 

 respects it resembles the ordinary horse chestnut, but it has 

 larger and smoother leaves and flowers four or five weeks later. 

 Beech trees from the southern hemisphere attracted attention. The 

 hardiest species are Nothofagus obliqua and N. antarctica^ and the 

 timber bears a resemblance to common beech. A specimen of 

 Picea Breweriana, the oldest plant in the country of this species, 

 was noted near the Pagoda. The Chinese Styj-ax Hemsleyanum 

 attracted attention by reason of its clusters of white flowers. 

 Other interesting species represented are Arctostaphylos manzanita^ 

 an evergreen spring-flowering shrub from California, and the 

 golden-leaved chestnut {Castanopsis chrysophylla)^ a Californian 

 tree with leaves resembling the holm oak, but golden on the 

 under surface. An interesting graft hybrid was noted in 

 Crataego-Mespilus Dardari, It originated after a medlar had 

 been grafted upon a hawthorn, and is peculiar in that it bears 

 simultaneously three kinds of flowers and three kinds of leaves, 

 with three kinds of fruits in their respective seasons. 



The Temperate House, covering about 2 acres of ground, 

 and 60 feet high, contains Australian, New Zealand, Himalayan, 

 and South African plants. The picture gallery, which contains a 

 large number of paintings of plants growing in their natural 

 habitats, was visited. The drawings were made by Miss North, 

 who presented them and the building in which they are housed, 

 to the gardens. 



The flagstaff, 214 feet high, 3 ft. 4 ins. in diameter at the 

 base, and 12 inches at the top, weighing 18 tons, was seen. 

 The spar is of Douglas fir timber and was presented to Kew 

 in 1916 by the government of British Columbia. 



A visit was paid to the nursery, then to a plantation of 

 western larch {Larix occidentalis). A few trees of common 

 larch had been planted with the western larch for comparison. 

 The common larch proves to be the more satisfactory tree. 

 Groups of cactus in various parts of the gardens attracted 

 attention, and the guides explained that they were planted in 



