64 



DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE ON BOTANICAL WORK 



Sir W. T. 



Thiselton- 



Dyer, 



K.C.M.G., 

 F.E.S 



29 Nov. 1900 



intermediare, par le magnifique elan doniie par son 

 exemple. 



En effet, des 1772, Kew commen^a a envoyer des col- 

 lecteurs dans le monde entier ; les Masson, les Nelson, 

 les Ciumingham, les Kerr, les Lockart, celebres explora- 

 teurs botanistes auxquels nous devons tant de jolies 

 choses, n'etaient que de simples jardiniers de Kew. 



The general result of Kew training is not merely to 

 impart to the men a considerable body of technical in- 

 struction, but also to infuse into them an element of 

 seriousness and purpose, and to quicken their general 

 intelligence. 



An even more imporiant result is to obtain a body of 

 men from which the numerous minor Government posts 

 in India and the colonies can be filled. At the present 

 time there are some 80 Kew men who are curators or 

 superintendents of botanical gardens in different parts 

 of the empire. UnhappUy no less than five of their pre- 

 decessors have succumbed' to the climate of the West 

 Coast of Africa. 



The following summary gives the distribution of 510 

 men who have passed through Kew, and whose present 

 addresses are known : — 



Europe ----- 355 



Asia - - - - - 45 



Africa - - - - - - 28 



America ----- 66 



Australia and New Zealand - - 16 



including Falkland Islands, China, ChilL Perak, Fiji, 

 Senegal, Hayti, Sumatra, Congo, Angola, British Central 

 Africa, Mozambique, Transvaal, Egypt, etc. 



Number of 



Curators and Superintendents 



Head gardeners 



Nurserymen - - - 



Foremen - - - _ 



- 80 



- 125 



- 100 



- 50 



Editors of papers and County 



Council lecturers - - - 18 



Special arrangemen'-s have been made for admitting 

 students, artists, and others who visit Kew with some 

 definite object in view during private hours in the 

 morning. A written application for such admission is 

 required. To those to whom it is granted facilities are 

 given wliich cannot be extended to the general public. 

 The privilege was much appreciated, but it has been 

 curtailed by the earlier hours of opening to the general 

 public. This has excited warm protests from artists, as 

 well as on behalf of the Indian Forest students from 

 Cooper's Hill, who during the summer months visit tho 

 establishment weekly. 



The collections of living plants are grown for scientific 

 purposes, and for the inspection of the public, including 

 students. It is not permitted to visitors to gather speci- 

 mens, and it would be impracticable to allow this to be 

 ■done. A small private "students' garden ' has therefore 

 been formed, in which a typical collection of herbaceous 

 plants is grown, and in this students are permitted to 

 gather specimens for examination and study. 



A supply of cut plants is sent weekly to the Royal 

 School of Art at South Kensington. 



An arrangement has been made with the School Board 

 for London by which specimens suitable for demonstra- 

 tion are supplied to the Board, who undertake their dis- 

 tribution to the schools. 



An extensive distribution of seeds taEes place annually. 

 'These are freely supplied to educational institutions, and 

 by way of exchange to probably the majority of the 

 botanic establishments of the world. The distribution 

 -for 1899-1900 amounted to 10,337 packets sent to 133 

 institutions. 



(3.) The ultimate end of the immense living collec- 

 tions maintained at Kew must be the furtherance of re- 

 search. In this respect it is a matter of regret that their 

 richness and extent are insufficiently appreciated. This 

 is not the case on the taxonomic side, on which they are 

 incessantly drawn upon. But for morphological and ana- 

 tomical investigation there is still room for further de- 

 velopment. The belief exists widely amongst the younger 

 men engaged in botanical research that it is necessary to 

 go to a foreign country to prosecute investigation. But 



in a large majority of cases ample material is available 

 at Kew in a much more accessible form. The collection, 

 for example, of vascular cryptogams has probably no 

 parallel anywhere. 



Men do, however, come to Kew for research and from 

 all parts of the world, and to those every possible assist- 

 ance is given. Applications for material from persons 

 abroad are less freely complied with. This does not 

 arise from any indisposition to assist foreign workers, 

 but simply from want of a staff to prepare and despatch 

 the material in a proper way. It is, however, always 

 open to a foreign investigator to conduct his research at 

 Kew, and many do so. 



(4.) Kew on its cultural side is generally regarded 

 as the botanical headquarters of the empire. It may bo 

 roughly described in this respect (i.J_as a "central 

 depot" ; (ii.) as a " cleaiing house." This aspect of its 

 work can only be briefly summarised. 



Besides the standard collection of economic plants ex- 

 hibited to the public a large stock is constantly kept on 

 hand. But as everything depends on their being accu- 

 rately identified the necessity of controlling work of this 

 kind by the resources of a herbarium and a skilled 

 botanical staff is obvious. The Dutch cinchona enter- 

 prise in Java was hampered for many years by the cul- 

 tivation of a species which was subsequently discovered 

 to be worthless. At the present moment Kew is engaged 

 in an investigation of the little known but unexpectedly 

 numerous trees which produce india-rubber in tropical 

 Africa and South America. 



Kew then on its own initiative distributes to botanic 

 gardens and stations throughout the empire plants which 

 are likely to afford the foundation of new cultures. At 

 the present moment it is particularly engaged with ths 

 West African colonies, the resources of which have 

 hitherto been mainly natural products, many of wHich 

 are becoming exhausted. 



Besides this Kew undertakes larger enterprises at the 

 instance of the Government when it deems them advis- 

 able. Of these the most important was the introduction 

 of Cinchona into India in 1861, and of South American 

 rubber trees into that empire in 1876. The Government 

 of India has recently sanctioned the planting of 10,000 

 acres in Burma with the tree yielding Para rubber. The 

 plants will be the descendants of those originally intro- 

 duced through Kew. Minor operations are the transfer 

 of plants in quantity from the new world to the old and 

 vice versa. These are received at Kew, nursed to re- 

 covery, repacked, and redespatched. A seedling sugar- 

 cane raised at Kew and sent out to Queensland has been 

 named "Kewensis," and it is said to be prolific and of 

 high value. 



B. — -Heebaeium and Libhart. — These are not acces- 

 sible to the general public. Their use is restricted to 

 the official work of the establishment and purposes of 

 research. Its different heads may be briefly summarised 

 as follows : — 



1. Identifying and verifying the names of plants culti- 

 vated at Kew. This need not be further dwelt upon. 



2. Naming plants sent by the prabHc for identifica.tion. 

 During 1899 about 2,000 speciments were so named. This 

 is rather a heavy tax on the time of the staff, but often 

 leads to important material being obtained from pre- 

 viously unknown correspondents. 



3. The discussion of specimens transmitted by the 

 Foreign, India, Colonial, and other Government Offices, 

 especially of plants yielding oils, fibres, rubber, or other 

 substances of commercial value. 



4. The gradual elaboration of a botanical survey of 

 the whole empire. About 1856 the Government sanc- 

 tioned a scheme for the preparation of a series of floi'as or 

 descriptions in the English language of the indigenous 

 plants of British colonies and possessions. In 1863 Sir 

 W. Hooker addressed a memorandum to the Colonial 

 Office which was printed as a Government paper. 



In this the scheme assumed a more mature form. The 

 general principle was that the plan of the floras should be 

 uniform octavos, and that publication should be secured 

 by the Home or Colonial Governments guaranteeing to 

 take 100 copies of each volume at the publislied price 

 On this basis the work has since proceeded. The floras 

 of the following portions of the Empire are completed : — 



Enumeration of Ceylon Plants (1858-64) by G. H. K. 

 Thwaites, F.R.S., edited by Sir Joseph Hook* r. 



South Africa, by Harvey, Sender and others (1859-65), 



