34 Garden Botany. 



bestowed upon the expedition while abroad was, as soon as 

 the time arrived for giving to the world the result of its labours, 

 unfortunately withheld, and all which is even now known of 

 its botanical discoveries, has been published at the private 

 charge of Mr. Brown, while the incomparable drawings of 

 Ferdinand Bauer, which could only have been made public at 

 a national expence, are still slumbering in their portfolios. 

 With Captain Tuckey's expedition to the Congo was sent the 

 unfortunate Christian Schmidt, and an abundant train of natu- 

 ralists and assistants. But the lamentable result of that voyage 

 has of necessity prevented any material advantage from result- 

 ing from it. It is, however, scarcely worth expecting any really 

 valuable national assistance in botanical science, while there 

 is no national receptacle for the arrangement and examination 

 of the objects collected. Within the walls of the British Mu- 

 seum the name of botany is almost unknown ; and had it not 

 been for the noble fortune which was generously supplied by 

 the late Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks to the service of 

 the science, and for the point d'appui which he suffered his 

 private residence to be made, it is impossible to believe that the 

 numerous collections of dried plants which were either obtained 

 from the government expeditions or from the laudable exertions 

 of various British Officers, not specially employed in scientific 

 pursuits, would at this day have had any public existence. — 

 The royal gardens at Kew have been long celebrated for the 

 stores of vegetable riches which have been for nearly half a 

 century concentrated within their precincts. Government col- 

 lectors maintained at great expense, national expeditions, the 

 various botanic gardens of Europe, the establishments of the 

 Honourable East India Company at Calcutta and Madras, the 

 governors of colonies, merchants, and private individuals of all 

 ranks and descriptions, have filled the Kew garden to an 

 overflow with all manner of botanical productions. At least 

 such is the general belief: but since the publication of the last 

 edition of the Hortus Kewensis, the public has had little oppor- 

 tunity of acquiring any precise knowledge on this point, owing 

 to the peculiar system of exclusive possession which it is 

 thought necessary to maintain in that national establishment. 

 The new garden at Edinburgh attached to the college is a 

 noble institution, and cannot fail to be of high importance to 

 botanists in the northern parts of these islands. 



Nurseries and gardens for the rearing and establishment 

 of native plants, have been formed in almost all our co- 

 lonies. Under the protection of the East India Company, the 

 celebrated botanic garden at Calcutta has been raised to a 

 state of excellence which has never been equalled in a co- 



