July 18, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
53 
687,972. As in the preceding year, the Bank holiday in 
August (the sixth) brought the greatest number of visitors in 
any one day—nearly 58,000, while on two days in January 
and February it sank to a minimum of twenty-four. 
A proposal has been made, emanating in the first instance 
from the occupants and proprietors of the houses opposite, to 
remove the wall and substitute in its place an iron railing. 
This proposal I have felt it my duty to strenuously oppose. 
The Richmond Road is one of the great highways out of 
London, the traffic upon it is great, and, especially since the 
abolition of the toll on Kew Bridge, is increasing. The wall 
is not merely a most valuable and efficient screen against the 
driving and destructive easterly winds of spring, but it also 
checks the dust and litter of a great thoroughfare from being 
drifted into the Gardens. It has been judiciously remarked 
that a question of this kind must be decided from the inside. 
If this is-done the public utility of the wall cannot be com- 
bated, It is one of the first principles of landscape gardening 
to conceal boundaries and produce an effect at once of privacy 
and interminableness. There is no better means of accom- 
plishing this than by a wall backed by well-arranged shrub- 
beries. If the wall be removed the wind will soon extermi- 
nate the shrubs, and the eye will rest with little satisfaction 
oe glimpses of iron railing, passing vehicles, and clouds of 
ust. 
Nor have the residents on the opposite side of the road 
any real ground of complaint. The wall existed before their 
houses ; it effectually prevented any view into the Gardens 
from the ground floor windows, and the addition to its height 
in no way intercepts such views as can be obtained from the 
upper storeys. In a few years the top will be clothed as 
before with Ivy, while the trees planted in the Richmond 
Road will in course of time be a more effectual screen than 
any boundary wall. 
My experience of the management and working of the Royal 
Gardens, extending now over upwards of thirty years, leads me 
unhesitatingly to the belief that neither the collections nor 
grounds can be maintained up to their present standard if the 
public are to be admitted in the moming. During the hours 
before one o’clock the labourers and gardeners practically ac- 
complish the daily work necessary for the culture of the col- 
lections and the keep of the grounds, and in my judgment 
they could not do so if surrounded by visitors. At one o’clock 
the Gardens are “dressed” ready for the admission of the 
public ; and though I believe our visitors are proud of Kew 
and deserve the highest praise for the small amount of mis- 
chief which they individually commit (apart from that which 
is unconsciously and inevitably brought about by the move- 
ment of large crowds), still a certain amount of depredation 
and wanton injury continually goes on, and our gardening 
staff is therefore more occupied in the afternoon with the 
business of protecting and supervising the collections under 
their control, to say nothing of answering inquiries, than of 
doing anything for their care and cultivation, which is indeed 
impracticable on full days. There is therefore a marked 
difference between their duties at the different parts of the 
day, and this division of their labour I consider it essential 
to preserve, It is, I am aware. proposed that this difficulty 
might be met by closing the houses and museums up till 
one o'clock. My experience, however, leads me to the belief 
that this, though it might be satisfactory to the local resi- 
dents, would not be so to visitors from a distance. The only 
principle which does not lead to disappointment and difficulty 
is that when the Gardens are open at all they should be so in 
every department. 
With regard to the grounds I must point out that there is 
this radical difference between them and any other public 
garden—that they are really to be regarded as an open-air 
museum, where specimen plants and collections of the greatest 
possible value are freely displayed. Here again the necessity 
of constant supervision during the presence of the public is 
obvious. Nor must it be forgotten that grounds so occupied 
require, unlike other public gardens simply needing to be 
maintained up to the same standard from year to year, con- 
stant improvement and development. ‘The laying-out and 
planting of new collections, and the verification, examination, 
and re-arrangement of old ones, is work which must be done 
with the co-operation of the scientific staff, which it cannot 
and ought not to be expected to give during public hours. 
A very large class of persons for whose use the Royal 
Gardens have always been primarily designed, I mean those 
who visit the collections with some special end in view, 
whether botanists, horticulturists, students, manufacturers, 
&c., would have serious grounds of complaint if there were 
no time when they could pursue their studies in quietude. 
Persons with proper credentials interested in particular groups 
of plants are freely allowed to handle and examine them in 
private hours, a privilege which must be withdrawn if the 
public are admitted at all times. To artists, also, leave to 
draw during public hours is practically useless, 
On Bank holidays, which are in every way days of an ex- 
ceptional character, I have willingly assented to the opening 
at ten o’clock, On these days arrangements will be made for 
suspending all the work of the Royal Gardens, and the whole 
staff will have, even with additional assistance, more than 
sufficient occupation in watching and controlling the crowds. 
I may mention that having had the length of walks in the 
Royal Gardens which have to be maintained in order carefully 
measured J find they amount to a total of nearly 15 miles. 
Miles. Yards. 
5 
Botanic Gardens. 1240 
Arboretum ..... 6 880 
Queen’s Cottage groun 1 600 
Herbarium and Palace grounds,. 1 200 
14 1160 
The following plants of special botanical interest, amongst 
others of less importance, have flowered during the past year 
in the Royal Gardens :—Aglaonema, sp. n., West Africa; Aloe 
tricolor, Baker, “ Bot. Mag.’ 6324; Alpinia, sp. n., ex. “ Hort. 
Bull;” Ansellia africana, var.; Anthurium spathiphyllum, 
NV. £. Br; A. trifidum, Oliv., “Bot. Mag.” 6339; Billbergia 
macrantha, Baker, sp.n.; Calamus fasciculatus, Roxbd.; Caral- 
luma fimbriata, Wall.; Carludovica Plumieri, Ath.; C. sp. n., 
Costa Rica; Ceropegia Barkleyii Hk. 7, “Bot Mag. 6315 ;” 
Crocus alatavicus, Regel and Semenow ; C. vitellinus, Wahl. ; 
Duvalia albo-coronata, V. #. Br.; Dyckia frigida, “ Hort. Lind.,” 
“Bot. Mag.” 6294; Epidendrum Sophronitis, Zindil., “ Bot. 
Mag.” 6314; Fritillaria Munbyi, Baker; F. (Korolkowia), 
Sewerzowi, Regel ; Gasteria colubrina, WV. #. Br.; Hoodia Bainii, 
Dyer, “Bot. Mag.” 6348; Huernia reticulata, Wass.; Hypoxis. 
Arnotti, Baker; Inula Hookeri, C. B. Clark; Ione paleacea, 
Lindl, “Bot. Mag.” 6344; Iris speculatrix, Hance, “ Bot. 
Mag.” 6306; Lilium cordifolium, Zhund., “Bot. Mag.” 6337 > 
Microstylis Josephiana, Reichd. f., ‘‘ Bot. Mag.” 6325; Muscari 
(Botryanthus) conicum, Baker; Szovitsianum, Baker; Pedi- 
cularis Hookeriana, Wall.; Phenosperma, (gen. n.) globosa, 
Munro ; Piaranthus pullus, Mass.; Pitcairnea, sp. n.; Rhipsalis 
penduliflora, V. 2. By.; Silene Baldwini, Vutt ; Stapelia comata, 
Jacq., var.; 5. (Gonostemon) erectiflora, V. #. Br.; 8. (G.) glan- 
dulifera, Wass.; 8. (Orbea) namaquensis, V. #. B7., var.; 8. gran- 
diflora, var. lineata, V. #. G7.; Tillandsia usneoides, Z., “ Bot. 
Mag.” 6309; Tovaria oleracea, Baker, “ Bot. Mag.” 6313; 
Tulipa undulatifolia, Boiss., “Bot. Mag.” 6308; Xanthorrhea 
minor, Br., “Bot. Mag.” 6297. 
CHAPTERS ON INSECTS FOR GARDENERS. 
No. 22. 
On seeking a definition of a “moth” from ordinary persons 
not particularly observant of Nature (but avoiding those who 
apprehend that a “moth” can only be some such insect as 
that well known for its attacks upon clothes), we find that we 
get very various replies. A tolerably common one would be 
to the effect that a moth is a duller-coloured insect than is a 
butterfly, with a stout body and a propensity for hiding by 
day, taking excursions after darkness has set in, on what object 
intent, however, opinions will greatly differ. Viewed as a 
general idea of the moth tribe this is not a particularly suc- 
cessful attempt, yet it would apply tolerably well to the family 
of the Noctuina, a large group in Britain, embracing about 
three hundred species, though we are thrown into the shade by 
the enormous array that the Continent of Hurope presents to 
view, where Guerée has described nearly nineteen hundred 
species ! 
In this family are found some caterpillars that are exceed- 
ingly troublesome in gardens, attacking culinary plants chiefly, 
but it does not follow from the figures just given that foreign 
horticulturists have six times as many of these pests to contend 
with, because the vast majority of these Noctuas feed, when 
caterpillars, on the roots, stems, or leaves of plants and trees 
that are not of special importance to mankind. Yet it is the 
case that in such countries as France and Italy insects pass 
through their transformations more rapidly than they do in 
