EDUCATIONAL IXSTITUTIOXS. 165 



mise has been most strangely iinfLilfiUed and neglected. 

 Not to speak of imiversities, some of which have their 

 botanic gardens^ there are_, for example^ round Edin- 

 bm'gh six foimdation schools^ or hospitals as they are 

 there called^ in which children of certain classes of the 

 commimity are boarded and educated till they are of 

 suitable age to go into trades or professions. Some of 

 these institutions occupy magnificent buildings and have 

 ahnost princely revenues ; all of them are well endowed ; 

 and yet^ while they are surrounded by grounds more or 

 less tolerably laid out, not one of them possesses a named 

 collection of plants, nor, so far as we know, is any 

 regular com'se of instruction in regard to natiu'al objects 

 maintained within them. We cannot think that this 

 state of things, subsisting under the direction of nume- 

 rous well-uiformed and intelligent men, is very much to 

 the credit of the science and the enterprise of ^Modern 

 Athens. 



We would deem it higldy adrisable to attach a garden 

 of two or three acres to the normal schools prorided by 

 Government for the improvement of teaching. These, 

 under proper management, would enable the pupil - 

 teachers to carry back to theu' native homes or fiitm-e 

 places of labour a correct nomenclatui*e of plants and 

 much other useful information respecting them, but 

 little known in secluded districts. In reference to these 

 matters, the progress made in Ireland is much in advance 

 of that on this side of the channel. The agTicidtm^al 

 seminaries at Glasne^in and Templemoile have consi- 

 derable collections of trees, shrubs, and plants attached 

 to them"^. 



* In 1840 we laid out an arboretum and miniature Botanic 



