48 THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. 111. 



The best managers of botanic gardens are invariably such as 

 have had a thorough garden training— men who have lived all 

 their days among large collections of living plants in gardens. 

 It by no means follows that sucli men, because first of all excellent 

 gardeners, may not also be good botanists. It is almost impossible 

 that they can be otherwise; but the botany comes to them through 

 life-long association with living garden plants. Such gardeners 

 may be compared to architects and builders who build nobly, but 

 whose practice and intelligence lead them to understand the 

 classification of the stones they use. 



It may be objected that when a botanic garden is wholly under 

 the charge of a horticulturist, the general collections might sufler 

 from his partiality for a few common types. The answer is that 

 by far the most complete and rare collections and the best grown 

 are those in the possession of amateurs, gardeners, and nursery- 

 men. The real danger lies in the opposite direction — that is, 

 when a botanist has sole control. He may select a cultivator only, 

 instead of a really accomplished botanic gardener. Now we want 

 good cultivators in all our botanic gardens ; but in a first-rate 

 curator that skill should be accompanied by a wide knowledge 

 of every type of vegetation as grown in gardens. Hence to select 

 a man merely because he happens to grow well some one or two 

 classes of plants is a mistake. It should never be forgotten that 

 the trees and plants which are of the highest value in a botanic 

 garden in any country are such as are quite hardy in the open 

 air in that country, and that one may quickly acquire a rej)utation 

 as a cultivator of indoor plants, without knowing or caring for 

 any hardy subjects. Hence the necessity of selecting a director 

 or curator possessing a general knowledge and love of every 

 family of the garden flora. It should also be borne in mind 

 that when a botanist holds the appointment of the curator of a 

 garden, he is, as a rule, not apt to select a first-rate man. Many 

 professional gardeners know living cultivated plants, that is to 

 say, know the flora of botanic gardens far better than botanists. 

 Obviously, except in the case of a noble nature, the botanist is 

 therefore not likely to select a man who knows more than he does 

 himself about the plants in the garden— the only things that 

 either the visitors, or supporters of such places care about. 



It is not only want of knowledge of good gardening that 



