102 KEW GARDENS 



of the elder Haverfield, Alton came into the 

 entire management both at Kew and Richmond. 

 His first appointment was in the last year of 

 George II. A quarter of a century later, we 

 find him clearly head of the whole establish- 

 ment. Aiton certainly rose to be no mere 

 working gardener, who published a catalogue 

 of the plants at Kew. He held his post till 

 towards the end of the century, and was then 

 succeeded by his son William Townsend Aiton, 

 to rule at Kew for half a century more ; while 

 another son, John, had charge of -the royal 

 gardens at Windsor and at Kensington. 



In the Aiton succession, we come across the 

 fact that a talent for the study of plants is 

 apt to be hereditary. There were two Linnes, 

 not equal in fame, four De Jussieus, three De 

 Candolles, three Darwins of different degrees 

 of note in science ; and for more than a century 

 Kew Gardens were under the two dynasties of 

 Aitons and Hookers. In the reign of William 

 Aiton the second, among Scotsmen finding 

 employment in Kew Gardens was a William 

 Macnab, who rose to be foreman here, and in 

 1810 went to the Edinburgh Botanical Garden 

 as curator or principal gardener. One cannot 



