CHAPTER VI 

 KEW GARDENS GEORGE III 



A important result from Banks's new acquaint- 

 ance with the King was its effect upon the 

 fortunes of the Royal Gardens at Kew. The 

 care of the Gardens had been for some time 

 past the favourite business of Lord Bute. Under his 

 management the Princess Dowager of Wales was enabled 

 to pursue her hobby in the best taste. Lord Bute was 

 really one of the leading horticulturists of the time. 

 In his younger married days, living at Mount Stuart, his 

 time was occupied almost exclusively in Agriculture 

 and Botany. The gardens there have been the glory 

 of the island of Bute ever since. After his retirement 

 from politics he resumed these things. At Luton Hoo he 

 raised a splendid garden, from which he presently stocked 

 another at his Hampshire villa near Christchurch. The 

 general public knew nothing of the cultured side of Lord 

 Bute's character. When an addition was made to the 

 buildings at Kew he caused a private entrance to be made 

 from his own study into the adjacent palace garden ; 

 and in his hands it entered upon that career which has 

 since made it famous throughout the world. The chief 

 gardener was a somewhat remarkable man, William 

 Aiton, a native of Lanarkshire. He came up to London 

 to find employment, at the age of twenty-eight, which he 

 found at the Chelsea Garden, under Philip Miller. His 

 appointment as superintendent at Kew, in 1759, gave him 



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