486 LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



up to the public ; and it is wholly owing to the spirited administra- 

 tion of Sir William Hooker so well known in both hemispheres 

 for his botanical science that it has lately reached so high a rank 

 among botanical collections. Originally, the place is interesting, as 

 having been the favorite suburban residence of various branches of 

 the royal family. George III. lived here ; and here Queen Char- 

 otte died. The botanical taste of the latter is well known, and 

 has been commemorated in that striking and beautiful plant, the 

 Strelitzia, named in her honor* by Sir Joseph Banks. For a 

 long time the garden was the receptacle of all the rare plants col- 

 lected by English travellers Capt. Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, Cun- 

 ningham, and others. What was formerly of little value has, how- 

 ever, lately become a matter of national pride ; and this is owing 

 to the fact, that the present queen has wholly given Kew up to the 

 public, even adding a considerable sum annually from her private 

 purse towards maintaining it. The old " Kew Palace," which 

 stands in the grounds, is a small, simple, brick mansion, without the 

 least pretension to state, and shows very conclusively that those of 

 the Hanover family who lived here did it from real attachment to 

 the place like Queen Charlotte, from love of botany ; as there is 

 nothing about it to please the tastes of an ambitious mind. 



As Kew has been already described by one of the correspond- 

 ents of this journal, I shall not go into those details which might 

 otherwise be looked for. I shall rather prefer to give you a com- 

 prehensive idea of the attractions of the place, which, though about 

 eight miles from London, was visited last year by one hundred and 

 thirty-seven thousand persons. The only requisite for admission is 

 to be decently dressed. 



When you hear of a garden, in America, you fancy some little 

 place, filled with borders and beds of shrubs and flowers, and laid 

 out with walks in various styles. Dispossess your mind at once, 

 however, of any such notions as applied to Kew. Fancy, on the 

 other hand, a surface of about two hundred acres ; about sixty of 

 which is the botanic garden proper, and the rest open park or plea- 

 sure-grounds. The groundwork of the whole is turf; that is, 



* She was Princess of the house of Mecklenberg Strelitz. 



