246 Botanic Garden of Madrid. 



nished the necessary manure, and kept in the summer months 

 the draw-wells at work for 11,000 reals (110/. sterling), and 

 inhabited the house and yard which adjoin the garden. 



In 1805, the building which existed from the foundation of 

 the garden, at its southern extremity, and which was used as a 

 lecture-room and a habitation for the professors and persons 

 employed in the branch of cultivation, was pulled down as 

 ruinous. 



Its annual allowance is 190,000 reals (1,500/. sterling), 

 which sum being never sufficient to cover the expenses, 

 recourse was had to other funds to pay the salaries of the 

 professors, which were never fixed, and to defray the ex- 

 penses incurred in repairs, &c. Of the above sum, 150,000 

 reals was paid from the funds of the Board of Pharmacy, and 

 the remaining 40,000 reals required to complete the salaries 

 from the public treasury. 



I could never ascertain what sum the government spent in the 

 construction of this botanical garden ; but I remember having 

 heard an individual of the board of physicians say, that that 

 board alone had furnished about five millions of reals (50,000/. 

 sterling), and I have no doubt that it cost more. 



From the end of 1816 the direction of the establishment was 

 in the hands of the professors of botany and of agriculture, of 

 the librarian, and of the chief gardener, in direct communica- 

 tion with the junta called that of the Protection of the Mu- 

 seum of Natural Sciences. 



In 1823. botany and agriculture were taught there.. The term 

 of the former began on the 1st day of April, and ended on the 

 last day of October, three public lectures being given in the 

 week, the vice-professor repeating the corresponding demon- 

 strations of the last lesson explained by the professor. In the 

 months of July and August are the vacations, and during 

 this period the garden is open to all the students who choose to 

 pursue their studies, from six in the morning till dusk. They 

 are furnished with all the necessary books, and with whatever 

 plants they may wish to examine, having moreover permis- 

 sion to consult either the professor or the vice-professor, 

 who are on the spot examining the plants of the present 

 sowing, and those which had not been examined in the 

 year before. During this period, too, the students exercise 

 themselves in the art of describing plants, and in writing 

 memoirs on particular points previously fixed by the professor. 

 Besides this, the scholars, attended by the professor or vice- 

 professor, are also in the habit of going out of Madrid to 

 botanize in its vicinity, in some of the days of June, July, Sep- 

 tember, and October. 



