70 Formation of a Public Botanic Garden. 



repair in such crowds to this country must feel, when they are 

 told that there are no public lectures on botany, and no means 

 of receiving instruction in that science, except by payment of 

 fees to individuals. Yet such is the case; and a curious proof 

 of it was exhibited, a short time since, when the botanical chair 

 at Oxford, which had long been a drowsy sinecure, fell into the 

 hands of the eminent person who nov/ holds it : he was not 

 qualified to hold such an appointment, probably, for the very 

 want of means of instruction. This gentleman, much to his 

 honour, repaired immediately to Geneva ; in whose petty state, 

 and worse soil, he found what it was impossible to find in Great 

 Britain. 



It may be' urged, that the Horticultural Society, and other 

 institutions in London, supply the deficiency complained of; and 

 that the putting of the public to any additional expense is unne- 

 cessary. To this we beg to reply that the horticultural and all 

 other establishments alluded to are private and proprietary, or 

 corporate, to which the public have no right of admittance, but 

 by favour. Another objection is, that these foundations are not 

 perpetual, but are ephemeral in their nature, and depend on 

 the caprice of the subscribers, which may, on any day, cut off the 

 supplies, and cause their existence to cease. Another reason is, 

 that the object of the Horticultural Society is, mainly, econo- 

 mical. The proprietors, of course, expect an equivalent for the 

 money they contribute ; and its energies are naturally turned in 

 this direction, more than to the purposes of science ; although the 

 eminent individuals who direct it have managed, to their infinite 

 honour, to combine the two to as great a degree as is, perhaps, 

 possible. There is ample room for the exertion of both ; and 

 I am convinced that I speak the sentiments of those individuals, 

 in anticipating the warmest approval of the plan, should it be 

 adopted. 



In case this plan be followed up, as I sincerely hope it may, 

 on every account, there are one or two observations to be made. 

 In the first place, that it be not done in a narrow or niggardly 

 manner ; that the professors appointed be practical working 

 men, not overpaid, nor with the temptation to push themselves 

 into the society of their superiors, leaving the work to be done by 

 inferiors ; and that all control or interference be ceded by the 

 crown. The miserable and disgraceful system introduced in 

 these gardens by the late Sir Joseph Banks is now amended ; 

 .but a very great inconvenience has survived : the retention of 

 power in the sovereign in disposing of plants. The exercise of 

 this discretion by the late truly excellent and patriotic king, 

 whose knowledge of plants was on a par with that he possessed 

 of horses, was a serious evil ; for foreigners and others, taking 

 advantage of his goodnature, were in the habit of soliciting par- 



