196 KEW GARDENS 



there touched upon in connection with Kew's 

 history. 



It would take one, indeed, from opening to 

 closing time to go through even the salient 

 features of these spacious Gardens. What one 

 turns to by choice will partly depend on taste, 

 and partly on the season. Early in the year, as 

 the official guide reminds us, we can look out 

 for the snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils that 

 " take the winds of March with beauty." Then 

 open the tulips about the Palm House, the blue- 

 bells in the remote corner marked by the Queen's 

 Cottage, the wild hyacinths beneath the budding 

 beech -trees ; and horse-chestnut flowers strew 

 the way to the blooming rhododendron walks ; 

 and next comes the turn of the azaleas and roses, 

 till the whole area is overspread by vari-coloured 

 blooms, in autumn dying with a pale sunset of 

 chrysanthemums. 



There are some who seek out first the richest 

 flower-beds; others who love the chequered 

 shade of melodious groves, or the avenues of 

 cedar, larch, and cypress at the less cleared end 

 towards Richmond ; others will ask for famous 

 old trees like that horse-chestnut whose gouty 

 limbs are railed in near the river bank, a little 



