HISTORICAL GARDENS 319 



Commissioners, in 1898, established a scheme for the 

 management of the Garden : ;r8oo towards its main- 

 tenance was provided by the London Parochial Charities, 

 who became trustees of the Garden, and £iS^ ^Y ^^^ 

 Treasury. A committee was appointed to manage the 

 Garden, and see that it fulfilled the founder's in- 

 tentions. The original societies mentioned by Sir Hans 

 Sloane, the Treasury, the London County Council, 

 and other modern bodies each nominate one represen- 

 tative on the board of management, and the trustees 

 appoint nine. It has been worked under this scheme 

 since May 1899. The buildings and green-houses, 

 which were tumbling down, have been rebuilt, and now 

 include up-to-date conveniences for growing and rearing 

 plants, and a well-fitted laboratory and lecture room. 

 The Garden is certainly now fulfilling the purposes 

 for which it was founded. It has proved to be of the 

 greatest use to the students of the Royal College of 

 Science, and members of schools and polytechnics. Cut 

 specimens, for demonstration at lectures, are sent out in 

 quantities during the summer, often as many as 750 in a 

 day. Students and teachers have admission to the Garden, 

 and the numbers who come (nearly 3000 is the average 

 annual attendance) show it is appreciated. Lectures on ad- 

 vanced botany have been attended by an average of seventy 

 students, and research experiments are carried on in the 

 laboratory. Seeds are exchanged with botanical gardens 

 all over the world, to the extent of over a thousand 

 packets in a year. In this it is carrying on a very early 

 tradition, as seeds were exchanged with the University of 

 Leyden in 1682, after Dr. Herman, from that city, had 

 visited Chelsea. 



Even in its early days the Apothecaries found the 



