i86 



NA TURE 



[A.UGUST 5, 19: 



intended as the site for a royal palace, and had been 

 used as a nursery garden. They were cleared and laid 

 out as an example of English landscape gardening, an 

 artificial lake being excavated and a mound formed 

 near the centre of the ground in the process. In 1845 

 the conservatory was erected. It was the first large 

 iron house built in England, the palm-house at Kew 

 being constructed later. The herbaceous garden, in 

 which the plants were arranged according to the 

 natural orders, was also a novelty in its time. It 



contains a warm-water tank in which Valeria regia 

 is grown very successfully every year. In the late 

 summer this is one of the sights of the gardens. 

 In this house are also grown bananas, rice, bamboo, 

 sugar cane, the sacred lotus, as well as a variety of 

 tropical water plants and climbers. Some of the other 

 houses are devoted to orchids, succulents, ferns, stove 

 plants and bedding plants. 



A practical gardening school was established in 1897, 

 and has done excellenl w ork. Lady gardening students 





= Main Entkan 

 = Students' He 



J = L. 



ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS. 

 iry. C= Fellows' Rooms. D = Victoria Recta Ho 

 r. School. G = Kitchen Garden. H = Order 

 = Rock Garden and Sundial. L = Towl:r and 



houses. E= Conservatory. 



i-eorological Instruments. 



includes economic and medicinal plants, and has 

 proved very useful to botanical students throughout 

 the history of the gardens. As early as the 'eighties of 

 last century 600-800 students' tickets were issued 

 annuallv. The gardens have also been and are still 

 an important source of specimens for botanical teach- 

 ing in London. The kitchen-garden and rock-garden 

 are other features having their special uses. 



The greenhouses are now in need of replacement, 

 and that process will begin shortly with the erection of 

 two new and modern houses. The museum contains 

 an important collection of economic products, par- 

 ticularly of tropical plants. The library is chiefly 

 devoted to economic botany, including agricultural 

 and horticultural publications. The Victoria House 



NO. 2753, VOL. I IO] 



were first admitted in 1904. and they have been very 

 successful. They now number 22, and a new students' 

 house was recently built for them. The course in 

 practical gardening extends over three years, and 

 includes practice in all the operations of gardening, as 

 well as a certain number of lectures. Those who have 

 completed the course have been very successful in the 

 gardening competitions of the Royal Horticultural 

 Societv and in obtaining situations. 



The gardens are also recognised as a meteorological 

 station for London. The society possesses a complete 

 set of instruments, and daily observations are made 

 and published. The records include ground tempera- 

 tures and sunlight. 



In the years before the war the gardens ceased to 



