GARDENS PUBLIC AND BOTANICAL 



Cloth," until Queen Victoria relinquished it, " for the 

 common good," making it public property. It has 

 since then become the resort for thousands upon thou- 

 sands of visitors, and a delight to lovers of beauty, 

 besides being of the utmost value to botanists, agri- 

 culturists, and experimentalists. 



Sir William J. Hooker, director for many years, 

 published the first Guide to the gardens, a little volume 

 as interesting as it was useful, decorated with funny 

 little woodcuts, and prefaced by a page or two of 

 Rules and Regulations sufficiently amusing. 



" No person attired other than respectably can be 

 admitted. 



"It might scarcely be thought needful to say, that all 

 play, leaping over the beds, and running are prohibited. 

 Yet they have been practised, and so heedlessly that 

 very serious injuries have resulted from falls, and 

 grievously scarred faces have been the memento of 

 such folly. 



" It is requested that visitors abstain from touching 

 plants and flowers ; a contrary practice can only lead 

 to the suspicion, perhaps unfounded, that their object is 

 to abstract a flower or a cutting, which, when detected, 

 must be followed by disgraceful expulsion." 



He concludes that much more might be said on these 

 heads ; but asserts that the director "while bearing will- 

 ing testimony to the excellent conduct of the many 

 thousands who visit the Gardens, prefers to rely on the 



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