APPENDIX E 

 NOTES ON THE GARDENS OF THE COLLEGES 



The Colleges, whose grassy plots 



Are now resorts of vicious ease, 

 Were then laid out in little lots, 



With useful beans and early peas : 

 Each merely ornamental sod 



They dug with spades and hoed with hoes : 

 The wilderness in every quad 



Was made to blossom as the rose. GODLEY. 



Though amply sufficient for the purposes for which it was 

 originally founded, the Oxford Botanic Garden is not spacious 

 enough for the many uses to which it is at present being 

 put. The size of many plants forbids their being grown to 

 their full proportions within Lord Danby's walls, while a 

 great many desirable species, trees more especially, must for 

 ever be excluded : it is not able to supply all the smaller plants 

 required for class demonstration or for research, still less to 

 serve as a satisfactory arboretum. 



In this respect Colleges with gardens might give great 

 assistance if the divided labours could be properly organised ; 

 not that we would be thought to suggest the gardens being 

 governed or planted out by one central authority the failure 

 of so many of the trees in the University Park has been a 

 lesson in that respect but, what would seem quite feasible, 

 that lists be made from time to time of plants of which it 

 is desirable to have specimens in Oxford, but which cannot 

 be seen here now. Many an intending planter would be glad 

 to have such a list to consult. 



