424 



NA TORE 



[September 23, 1922 



corner of the picture. It is on this area that all the 

 plant-houses, museums. and other buildings are situated. 

 Richmond Gardens were bounded on the west by the 

 Thames, and part of their site is the thickly wooded area 

 shown towards the top left-hand corner of the photo- 

 graph. 



Under Queen Caroline, consort of George II., Rich- 

 mond Gardens became famous for the costly and elabor- 

 ate operations she carried out there. She built Merlin's 

 Cave, the Hermitage, and various temples and other 

 structures, all of which disappeared soon after George 



It was here that his friend Dr. Bradley, afterwards 

 Astronomer Royal, made his two important discoveries, 

 the aberration of light and the nutation of the earth's 

 axis. Kew House was pulled down in 1802, but the 

 site of the observatory and Bradley's discoveries is now 

 marked by a sun-dial. 



The foundation of the Botanic Garden at Kew has 

 to be credited to Augusta, Princess of Wales and 

 mother of George III. Under the superintendence of 

 Lord Bute, about nine acres were laid out in 1760, the 

 portion devoted to herbaceous plants, then called the 



■ ■ A . ■ ..■/■■■• . I.. ' 



-* ^-^c^^s/^r* 1 '; "n 



A=I'a *. B = TBMrEKA 



1'G = Wateu-Lii.v Ho 



THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS. KEW. 

 House. C=Refneshment Pavilion. D = North Gall] 

 r. H=No. III. Museum (Orangery). I = Kew Palace. 



y. E = Klagstaff. F = Palm House. 

 J = Pond. K=Cactus House. 



III. came to the throne. Even Richmond Lodge itself 

 was razed to the ground in 1772. 



The old Kew Gardens had a longer and more interest- 

 ing history. John Evelyn made several references to 

 them in his Diary. In August 1678 he records that the 

 gardens had the " choicest fruit of any in England," 

 and under the date February 24, 1688, he wrote, " we 

 went to Kew to visit Sir Henry Capel's whose orangery 

 and myrtetum are most perfectly kept." From the 

 accounts of Evelyn and others it appears certain that, 

 even 250 years ago, Kew was one of the best gardens 

 in England. 



Sir Henry Capel died in it 

 descended to his grand-niece, 

 Molyneux. Molyneux had a 

 and converted part of Kew House into an observatory. 



NO. 2760, VOL. I 10] 



j6, and the property 

 the wife of Samuel 

 taste for astronomy 



Physic Garden, being arranged on the then newly- 

 devised Linnaean System. Willam Aiton, a pupil of 

 Philip Miller of Chelsea and afterwards the author of 

 the " Hortus Kewensis," was appointed head gardener, 

 and Sir William Chambers, the architect of Somerset 

 House, erected a number of temples and other buildings, 

 of which several, including the Pagoda, are still con- 

 spicuous features of the place. 



Between 1760 and 1841 Kew had a period of brilliant 

 success and one of decadence. Princess Augusta died 

 in 1772 and George III. substituted Sir Joseph Banks 

 in place of Lord Bute as unofficial director of the 

 Botanic Garden. Banks was largely interested in 

 the fortunes of the garden until his death in 1820, and 

 his association with it no doubt was the chief agency 

 that ultimately gave it the premier position among 



