[Vol. i 

 206 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



for botanical investigation as great if not greater than at any- 

 time in the past. 



The origin of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was due to 

 the interest in botany displayed by Princess Augusta, Princess 

 Dowager of Wales, under the guidance of Lord Bute, an enthu- 

 siastic botanist ; and a piece of the Royal Garden attached to 

 Kew House was set apart in 1760 for the purpose of forming 

 a physic garden. 



"The space allotted consisted originally of nine acres, enclosed 

 by walls (the ornamental building now standing, called the 

 Temple of the Sun, being then nearly the centre of the Garden), 

 which was laid out and scientifically planted in two divisions, 

 one containing a collection of herbaceous plants, arranged ac- 

 cording to the Linnean system, then in its infancy, but with 

 which Aiton had become well acquainted while serving under 

 Miller. This division was called the Physic Garden. 



"The second division was called the Arboretum, containing 

 all the then known introduced hardy trees and shrubs scien- 

 tifically arranged. Within the area were several Glass houses, 

 and in 1761 a large hothouse, 110 feet long, was erected by Sir 

 Wm. Chambers . . in after years known as the Great 

 Stove. In the same year an Orangery, 130 feet long, was also 

 erected."! 



No doubt several of the old and interesting trees now stand- 

 ing near the Temple of the Sun were planted in Princess 

 Augusta's arboretum soon after the foundation of the Garden. 



William Aiton was placed in charge of the Garden under 

 the direction of Lord Bute, and was Chief Gardener from 1759 

 to 1793. Sir W. Chambers, the designer of the Pagoda and 

 most of the Temples still to be seen in Kew, gives the follow- 

 ing account of Princess Augusta 's Physic Garden : 



"The Physic or exotic garden was not begun before the year 

 1760 ; so that it cannot possibly be yet in perfection ; but from 

 the great botanical learning of him who is the principal man- 



* Smith, John. Records of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. p. V. 1880. 

 See also Kew Bull. Misc. Inf. 1891:289-294. 1891. 



The Great Stove stood near the Temple of the Sun and was removed in 1861. 

 Its site is marked by an old wistaria, trained on an iron cage wliich grew upon 

 its walls. The method of ventilating the house was designed by William Hales, 

 the physiologist, who described his method in a letter to Linnaeus written in 

 1758. The method is in use at Kew to-day and was devised independently by 

 Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer. 



The Orangery is now Museum No. III. 



