572 FOREST CULTURE AND 
atime when the horrors of apparently endless wars- 
concussed the whole of Europe; it was long under 
the surveillance of the deeply - learned philosopher 
and celebrated Brazilian explorer, Von Martius, 
whose memory must be dear to every one who was 
brought in communication with that great man. This 
garden contained in 1851, in its conservatories alone, 
about 5,000 species of tender plants. 
If necessary, I might enter on long expositions con- 
cerning the workings and contents of the principal 
botanic gardens of former times or the present days; 
but I will rather at once define the conclusions, to 
which all these statistics or other comparisons would 
lead us, only yet premising that among all existing 
state gardens none can be compared to the grand and 
justly-famed establishment of Kew. While the high- 
est scientific administration is there brought to bear, 
it is also seconded by the enlightened and commensu- 
rate support and the princely endowments of a great 
nation. 
The objects of a botanic garden must necessarily be 
multifarious, nor need they be, in all instances, pre- 
cisely the same ; they may be essentially modified by 
particular circumstances and local requirements, yet, 
in all cases, the objects must be mainly scientific and 
predominantly instructive. As an universal rule, it 
is primarily the aim of such an institution to bring 
together with its available means the greatest possible 
number of select plants from all the different parts of 
the globe ; and this is done to utilize them for easy 
public inspection, to arrange them in their impress- 
ive living forms, for systematic, geographic, medical, 
technical or economic information, and to render them 
a oon ee ee 
