112 KEW GARDENS 



distinction between the Botanic Garden proper 

 and the former pleasure-grounds. Queen 

 Victoria showed her interest in the institution 

 by granting successive stretches of private garden, 

 to be added to what had become practically a 

 public one. At the end of her reign the so-called 

 Kew Palace, the old " Dutch House," was given 

 up to be opened as a museum of pictures and 

 other relics of its history. This is soon reached 

 by the broad walk leading straight on from the 

 chief entrance gates on Kew Green. The 

 Victoria Gate, on the Richmond Road, is the 

 approach for visitors coming from Kew Station. 

 There are other entrances both from the Rich- 

 mond Road and from the riverside, where, 

 opposite Brentford's wharves, one closed gate 

 reminds us how this was once a royal home. 



