the King's Botanic Garden at Kens. 3 ] 5 



this mode of acting were pointed out to His Majesty, there 

 can be no doubt of its being immediately attended to. 

 Hoping that some competent person will undertake this, 

 or that your Magazine will find its way to some favourite 

 summer-house or covered seat in the garden of royalty, 

 I remain, dear Sir, yours very truly, 



J. P. BlJRNARD. 



Eden Grove, Hollonsoay, 



The difficulty of getting any new plant, cutting, or seed from 

 Kew, and the number of plants that have been introduced 

 there and lost, or introduced there and not given out to the 

 country, has long been, and still is, a subject of general com- 

 plaint among gardeners and botanists. We have received 

 various letters and hints on the subject besides the communica- 

 tion of Mr. Burnard ; and we should have taken public notice 

 of them sooner, had we not been in expectation of seeing a 

 pamphlet (A**********ia) published on the subject, a part of 

 which we have seen, and which was written upwards of a year 

 ago. To us it has always appeared, that in no-private gardens 

 was reform so much wanting as in the royal gardens. With 

 scarcely any exception, they bear on their general appearance 

 marks of want of funds to keep them in proper repair and 

 order. How the masters and principal workmen are paid we 

 know not, but the journeymen at Kew get only 1 2s. per week, 

 as in the public nurseries. The King is said to drive fre- 

 quently round these gardens in his pony-chaise. — We are 

 certain his enjoyments in this way would be diminished if he 

 knew the rate at which they were purchased. We are cer- 

 tain, also, that if, by any possible chance, the royal eye should 

 meet this page, the wages of the journeymen at Kew will be 

 increased. It is hard that these poor fellows should not even 

 have a lodging in addition to their 12s. We hope some 

 person of influence will procure for them - a suitable rise of 

 wages, or, at least, a lodging-house in the village, which might 

 be put under the care of some old pensioner ; and as there are, 

 we understand, nearly forty persons in all employed about the 

 gardens, the greater part young men ardent in the pursuit of 

 their profession, there could not be a better situation for a 

 Garden Library. The entire system of royal parks and gar- 

 dens is rotten, and requires renewal, or radical reformation. 

 (See p. 371.) Something should be done, and we trust 

 will be done. — Cond. 



