THE HISTORY OF AITON'S ' HORTUS KEWENSIS ' 15 



iiDtil the summer of 1826, when he unfortunately became insane, and was 

 taken charge of by his father, then gardener at Gosford, in East Lothian. 

 He was succeeded by George Bond, then a young gardener at Kew, who 

 was employed in drawing for nine years, wlien (in 1835) he became 

 gardener to the Earl of Powis, at Walcot, where he now is. In conse- 

 quence of the time of Mr. Alton (between 1820-30) being much engaged 

 by George IV., at Windsor, the selection of subjects to keep the artist 

 employed rested with his amanuensis, Richard Cunningham, and 

 myself. Mr. Alton, however, took every opportunity of going round the 

 garden and pointing out subjects for drawing. The number of subjects 

 drawn by these two artists amount to about 2000, of which about 1700 

 were drawn bj^ Mr. Bond. Mr. Alton, being anxious to get the Ejntome 

 ready for publication, and his duties at Windsor preventing him doing 

 much to it during the day, he, in the winter evenings of 1826, 1827, and 

 1828, spent several hours in his garden office with Richard Cunningham 

 aud a young gardener as copj^ist. In 1830 the Epitome was ready for 

 publication ; but the death of George IV., and changes made in the 

 establishment by William IV., led Mr, Alton to delay his publication, and 

 to ultimately abandon it. On Mr. Alton's retirement in 1841, his garden 

 library, record plant-books, papers, and drawings, were removed to his 

 own house, and on his death in 1849, the whole of his immense corre- 

 spondence was burnt by his brother, John Alton ; the drawings and plant- 

 record books were, however, spared. Some time after John Alton's 

 death, Mr. x\ttwell Smith/- Mr. Alton's heir, was pleased to return them, 

 directed to the care of Sir. W. Hooker ; the drawingsf are now amalga- 

 mated with the large collection of drawings and prints early commenced 

 by Sir W. Hooker, and now yearly added to by Sir Joseph Hooker. With 

 regard to the manuscript copy of the Eintome, as I could never hear 

 anything of it, I suppose it to have been burnt, so that if it were 

 not for the figures in the Botanical Magazine made from Kew plants, 

 and a collection of specimens made by me (now in the British Museum), 

 and also the drawings of Duncanson and Bond, and some lists which I 

 have, little would be known of the new plants introduced after 1814." 



The Hortus Kewensis and the Banksian Herbarium. 



The present seems a suitable opportunity for defining the 

 intimate relations which existed between the Hortus Kewensis and 

 the Banksian Herbarium. Lasegue's reference — " Un herbier 

 compose des plantes cultiv^es au jardin royal de Kew et decrites 

 dans YRortus Keiuensis se trouve dans la collection particuliere 

 d'Aiton, qui fait partie des herbiers de sir Joseph Banks " \ — is 

 misleading, for Alton did not possess a herbarium, it being his 

 custom, as has been already stated, § to "carry his specimens and 

 doubts to Banks's library, where they were examined and resolved" 

 by Solander. We have in the Department of Botany the day- 

 book of the plants sent by Alton from Kew and by others from 



* He was a natural son of William Alton : see Journ. Bot. 1884, 122, foot- 

 note. The Kew Garden record-books there referred to, which are now in the 

 Kew Herbarium library, contain much matter of interest. 



t A MS. list by Richard Cunningham of the drawings of Bond and 

 Duncanson is in the Kew Herbarium Library ; the drawings may be dis- 

 tinguished in the general collection of drawings by the initials " B " and " D " 

 on each respectively. 



X Musee Botanique, p. 323. 



§ ante, p. 3, 



