308 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 
he gave to the world? the results of his experience in the manage- 
ment of Cape Heaths, and as this pamphlet is somewhat scarce, 
like his other publication already referred to, and may be reckoned 
still an authoritative work on the subject, I have added a 
transcript of it in Appendix B to this narrative, 
It would have been strange had the excellent service of McNab 
as Principal Gardener failed to secure for him a recognition in the 
the way of salary and emoluments better than those for which 
he came to Edinburgh. Only in 1819 had his salary been raised, 
and then but from £50 to £60, and we find him driven therefore 
to present the following memorial, which gives interesting infor- 
mation as to practices current at its date :— 
Unto the Right Honourable the Lord Chief Baron and 
arons of Exchequer.? 
The 
MemoriaL oF Wiiiiam McNap, 
Curator of the 
Royat Botanic GARDEN, EpINBURGH. 
Humbly sheweth 
at the Memorialist before he came to his present situation was 
Foreman at the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew a situation of 
great trust and which the Memorialist was so fortunate as to fill for 
eight years to the entire satisfaction of his superior Mr. Aiton head 
gardener, whose abilities and knowledge are well known, and whois 
entrusted not only with the gardens at Kew which are reckoned to 
—- the finest collection of Plants in Europe, but also with the 
ee pe oo of those of Kensington and some pases of the Royal 
residen 
The - Metn had a 
salary of one hundred guineas per annum and a House firing and 
candles, and the use of an exeaticns Honea Library with some 
other advantages, and as he was so fortunate as to possess the good 
1** A Treatise on the Propagation and Cultivation and General Treatment of Cape 
Heaths in a climate where they require protection during the winter months.” By 
William McNab. Edinburgh, Thomas Clark, 38 George Street, 1832. Of this 
work the Hortus Woburnensis says (p. 277)—‘‘ contains the most valuable instructions 
that has ever yet appeared in print on the subject, and ought to be in the hands of 
every cultivator or admirer of Zricee ; it is rendered doubly valuable by its comin 
from the pen of one who is generally known to be one of the best practical Botanists 
and most successful cultivators in Britain, and whose Heaths are actually grown to 
the size of small ¢vees, and many of them all oe from the edge of the pots to 
the extremity of the plants, with beauti tiful bl 
2Miss M‘Nab has kindly shown me this PT and allowed it to appear here. 
