74 



DEPARTMENTAL COJIMITTEE ON BOTANICAL WORK 



Sir W. T. 



Thiselton- 

 Dyer, 



K.C.M.G., 

 F.R.S. 



Utility dun service central en France pour les jaj'dins 

 d'essai des colonies. Esquisse de son organisation. 



SI. 



Une recente circulaire ministerielle sm- la colonisation 

 £2 ssov. 1900. agricole a mis en lumiere, cVune fagon saisissante, I'infe- 

 riorite de notre production coloniale et la necessite de 

 d^velopper dans nos possessions la culture des produits 

 que nous devons actnellement tirer de retranger. Or, 

 pour faciliter la creation d'exploitations agricoles, il faut 

 mettre, sui- place, a la portee des colons, d'ahord les 

 plants necessaires a I'etablissement des cuituriis, en 

 second lieu des renseignements et des conseils experi- 

 mentes pour I'amenagement et I'entretien des yjlantations. 



Les Anglais, nous venous de le voir, ont cree dans ce 

 but : 



1° De nombreux services locaux : departements 

 jardins, stations botaniques ; 



_ 2° Et un service central qui les relie, les inspire, les 

 dirige : I'institut botanique de Kew. 



Chez nous, il n'a pas ^te aussi completoment pourvu 



a ces besoins. 



* * * * -x 



In summarising the result of his enquiries as a basis 

 for the action of his own government, ^lonsieur Milhe- 

 Poutingon further adds : — 



II ne saurait s'agir, en effet, de constituer, de toutes 

 pieces, un ensemble d'organismes comparable aux jardins 

 de Kew. De pareilles institutions sont I'oeuvre du temps. 

 Nous avons vu successivement naitre et grandir les 

 divers rouages de Kew ; leur ensemble correspond 

 aujourd'hui a un perfectionnement tres avance de la 

 colonisation dans I'empire britannique. Nous sommes, 

 au contraire, en France, au debut de la colonisation 

 agricole, et pour parer aux: besoins immediats que nous 

 signalions plus haut, il ne serait necessaire ni de services 

 compliques ni d'un nombreux personnel. 



Avant tout, nos jardins coloniaux ont besoin d'etre 

 approvisionnes de plantes de grandes cultures, afin de 

 creer des champs d'experience et des pepiniferes oil lea 

 colons puissent se procurer des plantes et des graines en 

 quantity suffisante pour I'etablissement de leurs cultures. 

 C'est par les serres de for9age que Kew a pourvu a ce 

 besoin. Le premier organisme a creer consisterait done 

 en une ou plusieurs serres semblables a celles dont nous 

 avons decrit le plan et montre le fonctionnement. 



A ce service d'approvisionnement devrait etre annex^ 

 un service de renseignements, qui aurait mission de 

 procurer aux jardins coloniaux les informations, les avis, 

 les conseils, qui leur font trop souvent defaut pour 

 imprimer aux cultui'es coloniales une direction m^tho- 

 dique et rationnelle. A plusieurs reprises, au cours de 

 ce rapport, nous avons pu entrevoir I'etendue et la variety 

 des etudes que comporte un pareil service. Son action 

 s'exercerait sous deux formes principales : par un echange 

 suivi de correspondances avec les etablissements bota- 

 niques des colonies; par la diffusion au moyen des publi- 

 cations officielles ou particulieres, {Eevue Coloniale, 

 Journaux officiels des Colonies, etc.), des renseignements 

 et etudes utiles a vulgariser. 



Monsieur Poisson, a member of the staff of tlie 

 Jardin des Plant«s, has recently spent some time at 

 Kew in studying the organisation of its museums on 

 behalf of the French Government. 



The two following recent docunieiits _ are sufBcient 

 further illustrations of the way in which Kew is regarded 

 abroad: — 



" Director, Botanic Gardens, Sydney. New South Wales, 

 to Royal Gardens, Kew. 



Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 



June 4, 1900. 

 " Dear Sir William Dyer, — ^I hope to be in England 

 about the end of July. As soon as I can I hope to call 

 on you and also to visit Kew, the Mecca of all botanists, 

 and a place of especial reverence to me, situated as I am 

 at the other end of the world, where good gardens and 

 good botanists are so few. I particularly desire to look 

 at your Australian herbarium, and especially Eucalyptus 

 . and Acacia. 



Tours sincerely, 



(Signed) J. H. Maiden. 



. Sir WilHam Thiselton-Dyer, K.G.M.G., F.E.S., Kew." 



" Lyon, le ?4 juillet,. 1900. 

 " La Chambre de Commerce de Lyon. 



a Monsieur le Directeur du Jardin botanique tie Kew.. 

 " Monsieur le Directeur, 



" M. Antoine Allemand, eleve des cours d'enseignemen 

 colonial crees par la Chambre de commerce de Lyon, a 

 obteuude notre corapagnieuuebour.se de voyage pour 

 se rendre en Augieterre et y etudier les diverses collec- 

 tions se rapportant a la colonisation. 



_ "Le jardin de Kew e.st place au premier rang des collec- 

 tions de cette nature; aussi vous serions-nous trfes obliges. 

 Monsieur le Directeur, si vous vouliez bien rendre plus 

 aisee la tache de M. Allemand en lui accordant toutes 

 les facilites possibles pour etudier les richesses que con- 

 tient votre si interessant etablissement. 



" Yeuillez agreer. Monsieur- le Directeur, I'assurance d& 

 ma consideration tres distinguee, 



Le President, 

 (signe) Aug. Isaac. 



IV. 



The principal source of accessions thronghout the estab-- 

 lishment is the correspondence which is kept up with alji 

 parts of the world. 



1. The actual expenditure on purchases for the living; 

 collection is practically nominal. They are maintainee 

 by gifts and exchanges of living plants and seeds fronr 

 every country. The expenditure in labour in procurinf 

 them is, however, very considerable. Ii is difficult tc 

 estimate the sum of money which would be required to 

 purchase what is obtained ; it would certainly be very 

 large. 



2. The Herbarium and Museum have an armual vote 

 of £200 for purchases. The actual expenditure of money 

 in respect to both is probably in the aggregate very small. 

 Both have been in the main built up by gifts and by 

 carefully organised exchange. In the case of the- 

 Herbarium the accessions by gift and bequest have 

 been vast. It wiU be sufficient to mention the enormous 

 collections of the East India Company, the extensive 

 herbaria of G. Bentham and J. Ball, that of Gay, pre- 

 sented by Sir Joseph Hooker, and the mycological collec- 

 tion of the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. Kew has become, in 

 point of fact, the ultimate depository into which every- 

 thing, with few exceptions, worth having in cormection 

 with botanical studies ultimately flows. 



It is not desired to indefinitely extend the Kew Herb- 

 arium. As soon as the vegetation of a country is ada- 

 quately represented in it, the effort to obtain collections- 

 from it is relaxed, and attention is limited to securing any 

 additional new species that may be discovered. Xo large 

 accessions, for example, are now received from Australia 

 or India. The influx of specimens is therefore irregular, 

 but in any one year has occasionally been enormous. 



The accessions during 1899 are probably fairly normal. 

 The approximate number was about 18,000 specimens. 

 Of these about 7,000 were purchased from travellers, about 

 5,000 by exchange with various botanical establishments, 

 and 6,000 were gifts from travellers for whom they were 

 determined. Of the purchased collections it is not 

 always thought desirable to retain more than a part ; the 

 rest are distributed. 



One important and constant source of supply is the 

 Colonial and Indian botanical establishments. These are 

 constantly being added to, and each becomes, in a sense, 

 a centre of Kew work. The mode in which tliis is effected 

 will be seen from the concluding paragraph of the circular 

 sent out from the Colonial Office : — 



Downing Street, 



2nd August, 1893. 

 Sir, — The Director of the Royal Gardens. Kew, has been 

 good enough from time to time to advise the Secretary of 

 State on questions relating to the administration of 

 Botanical Establishments in the Colonies, and in response 

 to an invitation to indicate generally the lines on which 

 such Estabhshments might be most advantageously con- 

 ducted so as to be of permanent assistance to the com- 

 munities in which they are placed, he has prepared the 

 accompanying paper of " Suggestions." 



These suggestions may be regarded as affording a well 

 considered basis which experience has shown to be prac- 

 ticable for the administration of a well equipped Botanical 

 Establishment, and, as it is very desirable that the 

 administration of these establishments should, as far as 



