1915] 



HILL BOTANIC GARDENS 207 



ager and the assiduity with which all curious productions are 

 collected from every part of the globe without any regard to 

 expense, it may be concluded that in a few years this will be 

 the amplest and best collection of curious plants in Europe."^ 



With the death of Princess Augusta in 1772, George III in- 

 herited the Kew property and united the gardens of Kew 

 House with those lying contiguously, which formed the gar- 

 dens of the Palace of Richmond, and so produced the extensive 

 domain now occupied by the Eoyal Botanic Gardens. To the 

 great benefit of Kew, George III chose Sir Joseph Banks as 

 his botanical adviser, and for forty-eight years Sir Joseph 

 directed the affairs of the Gardens. During his term of office 

 the practice of sending out collectors was established, a prac- 

 tice fraught with discoveries of wide-spread interest and value 

 for horticulture and botany. Of the many Kew collectors^ it is 

 well to mention in particular the following: Francis Masson, 

 the famous collector of Cape plants; David Nelson, assistant 

 botanist on Cook's third voyage, who subsequently died from 

 exposure after the mutiny of the Bounty ; Archibald Menzies, 

 who travelled in Australia and Chili and introduced Araucaria 

 imbricata; "William Ker, the collector in China, who in 1812 

 became Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Ceylon ; 

 and Allan Cunningham, whose travels took him to Brazil, the 

 Cape, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Norfolk Island. 

 Cunningham returned to Australia, in 1836, to fill the post of 

 Superintendent of the Botanic Garden at Sydney. 



The days of Sir Joseph Banks were indeed the Golden Age ] 

 of Kew, and under his direction the Royal Gardens became a 

 center of botanical exploration and horticultural experiment i 

 unparalleled before or since. The well-known lines of Eras- ' 

 mus Darwin^ refer to the Kew of Sir Joseph Banks' day, en- 

 riched by the labors of her collectors : 



' Chambers, Sir W. Plana, elevations, sections and perspective views of the 

 gardens and buildings at Kew in Surrey, the seat of Her Royal Highness, the 

 Princess Dowager of Wales p. 3. Brentford, 1765? 



"For the complete list of Kew collectors, see Kew Bull. Misc. Inf. 1891: 

 295-311. 1891. 



' The Botanic Garden. 1791. 



