In My Vicarage Garden 



departments, but perhaps there is no part of the 

 institution which does more useful work for the 

 public. Plants are named there for all inquirers 

 in the most patient and liberal way, and though 

 Kew generally is under the Board of Works, yet 

 it is much more in contact with the Colonial 

 Office, which sends to Kew endless inquiries about 

 the colonial products, and depends on Kew to 

 supply the colonies not only with all information 

 that may be useful to colonists, but even with 

 plants in sufficient number to enable the colonies 

 to start and develop new industries, such as tea 

 and cinchona in India. 



I said that Kew was now a national garden, 

 by which I meant that the expenses were borne 

 by the nation. To some the amount granted 

 may seem large, but I believe it to be one of the 

 cheapest of our national institutions, when we 

 consider the size of the gardens, the great care 

 skilfully bestowed on them, and the very large 

 amount of national and colonial work carried on 

 there. Chancellors of the Exchequer are bound 

 to keep a tight hold on the national purse ; but 

 I never recollect the vote to Kew being disputed 

 in Parliament or objected to when once it had 

 passed the ordeal of the Treasury ; and certainly 

 the most economic M.P. would find it hard to 

 suggest any great economies at Kew, or to say 

 that the salaries paid to the officials were over- 

 paid sinecures. And Kew is not our only national 

 garden. Edinburgh has a beautiful garden, in 



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