L12 



Appendix I. 



an tinder-Iibrarian of the Museum, and designated 

 Keeper of the Banksian Botanical Collections ; his 

 .salarj'- in gross was £350, without aparbments ; his 

 assistant being Mr. J. J. Bennett, who had been with 

 him from the beginning of the department ; his own 

 duties were the " keeping up the arrangement of the col- 

 lection and incorporating with the arranged collection the 

 tinarranged materials already in his custody, and other 

 similar materials that from time to time may come to 

 the Museum." In the resolution of the Tna.sitees respect- 

 ing his appointment his duties were confined to the 

 Banksian botanical collections, which he brought with 

 him to the establishment ; but having more than once 

 expressed his wish to have charge of all the botanical 

 materials within the building, his wishes had lately 

 been agreed to by th,e Trustees. The transfer is, in 

 j)rogress ; but the delay which has arisen is due to want 

 ■of space in the Banksian rooms, a geological collec- 

 tion having been, till within the last few months accom- 

 modated in the same rooms. These have now been 

 assigned new quarters in the new building, and part of 

 the botanical collections referred to have been placed 

 • in the rooms. He has examined a part of the Sloane 

 herbaria, but not the whole. From that portion which 

 he has insj)ected, he should consider that the condition 

 •of the Sloane herbaria is as good now as it probably was 

 fifty or a hundred years ago. It is in the nature of such 

 collections that, provided they are kept free from damp 

 and insects, they are capable of being indefinitely pre- 

 served ; and that the volumes in question have preserved 

 the plants in as good a state as the Linnean herbarium, 

 that is, as regards the thirty or forty volumes known 

 to him by actual inspection. 



He looked upon the statement in the " Edinburgh 

 Keview " as overcharged, bat could not assert what was 

 the number of the Sloane volumes till he had had them 

 transferred to his department. They had always been 

 more or less accessible to those who required access to 

 them ; but in future they would be still more so. 

 Previously no officer was definitely charged with the 

 special oversight of them, due probably to the limited 

 sj^ace at command formerly. There was no library 

 attached to the Department of Natural History. In 

 his own department he had merely a few books of 

 reference which were absolutely essential. The Bank- 

 sian library, when transferred to the trustees, was 

 rich in works up to the death of Sir Joseph Banks in 

 1820, but then the accessions ceased. " Sir Joseph 

 Banks bequeathed to me for my life ' the use and enjoy- 

 ment ' (to employ the terms of the will) of his library 

 and botanical collections ; he also bequeathed to me 

 an annuity, but not for the superintendence and care 

 ■of the library and collections, though doubtless all 

 possible care is implied in the bequest. Neither the 

 library nor collections were ever open to the public 

 generally. Whoever had access to them had it through 

 me. Sir Joseph Banks entrusted to my discretion an 

 important charge, and I endeavoured, as far as circum- 

 stances of some difficulty enabled me, to fulfil his pro- 

 bable intentions. I have entered into these particulars 

 chiefly because the question now put seems to imply 

 that I had an actual duty to perform to the public 

 generally, and for the performance of which the annuity 

 in qiiestion was given ; and I have done so in some 

 measure also with reference to what at length took 

 place, namely, the transfer of the library and collection 

 to the Museum." 



He then gave some account of the circumstances under 

 Avhich the Banksian collections became the property of 

 the Trnsteeis. The libra/ry and ibo'tanieal collections wer'e 

 left to Mr. Brown for life, and upon his death we^re to 

 be conveyed to the British Museum ; the Trustees, how- 

 ever, ha>d the power tO' receive them at an earlier period 

 ■by arrangement with the tenant for life. Negotiations 

 were opened up by the Trustees, as they conceived that 

 these collections, being kept in the house in iSoho Square, 

 which was formerly occupied 'by Sir Joseph Banks, were 

 in a state of pos.siible danger from fire, being in a private 

 house, and surrounded by other like edifices ; Iby 1827 the 

 terms of transfer had been agreed upon by both parties, 

 and the whole handed over to the British 'Museum ; this 

 appears in greater fulness in evidence given by Mr. 

 Brown before the Royal ■Commission of 1847-49. 



The library, though kept apart from (the other books, 

 l>ecame merged in the printed books, but the fullest 

 facihties were afFordted to the Banksian keeper for using 

 such botanical books as he needed. At first there was no 

 ■Drovision for increasing the collections (by purchase, but 

 later on a sum of £80 per annum was allowed for such 

 •accessions, and still later, augmented to £100. He further 

 ■deprecated any transfer of his department after his death 



to the regular officers of the Musieum, as contemp^Iated 

 ■by the Trustees in 1833. 



In the concluding portion of the report, which was 

 presented m 1836, the Select Committee did not make 

 any recommendation with regard to the Banksian or 

 Botanical Department. 



The title of '■ Under-Librarian" for the head of a de- 

 partment was subsequently changed to that of " Keeper." 



DR. LINDLEY'S REPORT ON THE CONDITION 

 OP KEW GARDENS. 



The Royal Garden at Kew was the private possession of 

 the King, as detailed! by Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer in his 

 historical account of the garden in the Kew " Bulletin of 

 Miscellaneous Information" for December, 1891, pac^es 

 279-327. During the lifetime of Sir Joseph Banks the 

 ■scientific supervision of the garden was confided to him, 

 and remained in his hands till his death in 1820. The 

 seeds sent homie by various collectors were forwarded to 

 Kew, and the plants thus raised, together with those 

 introduced in a liviing state, were described in the 

 '_' Hortus Kewensis," a work of three volumes, published 

 m 1789, with the name of William Alton, the Kincr's 

 gardener, on the title page as author. It was actuafly 

 the work of Daniel Carl iSolander and of Jonas Dry- 

 ander, in succession librarians to Banks; the ori<Tinal 

 dried specimens from which the descriptions were 

 drawn up are incorporated in the Banksian herbarium, 

 which is now at Cromwell Roiad. The second edition of 

 this book in five volumes, nominally the product of Wil- 

 liam Townsend Alton, son of the elder Alton, wa^ written 

 partly by Jonas Diyarider, who succeeded as Banks's 

 hlbrarian after the deaitSh of Solander, and completed 

 by Robert Brown, who became librarian when Dryander 

 died in 1810 ; the book appeared in 1810-1813. 



The younger Alton succeeded his father, and became 

 Director-General of the Royal Gardens, but the details of 

 cultivation were left almost entirely to subordinates'. In 

 the year 1838 a committee of enquiry was appointed by 

 the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, to 

 investigate the condition of the Royal Gardens at Kew. 

 The Committee requested Dr. John Lindley, Professor 

 ■of Botany at University College, and Secretarv to the 

 Horticultural Society, to make a survey, wliicli he did 

 in conjunction wiitii Mr. (afterwards Sir" Joseph) Paxton 

 and Mr. — Wilson, both practical gardeners. The re- 

 port was signed by Dr. Lindley, dated 28th February, 

 and printed in May following. 



The first part deals with the garden structures and the 

 plants in cultivation. The reporter continues: — 



" So far as the mere cultivation of this place is a sub- 

 ject of o^bservation, it is due to those who have charge of 

 it to say, that it does them credit, considering the crowded 

 state of the houses, and the inadequate funds allowed for 

 its support. 



" It IS impossible to speak of the general management 

 in similar terms. It has always been maintained as the 

 great botanical garden of this country, and, whether as a 

 private or as a public establishment, it was the duty of 

 the officer entrusted with its administration to render it 

 efi'ective to the extent of his meansi as a botanical garden, 

 that is, as a garden of science and instruction ; yet no 

 kind of arrangement (one of the first features in a 

 botanical garden) has been observed ; no attempt has 

 been made, till lately, to name the multitudes nf rare 

 plants it_comprehends, and thus to rendter it a place of 

 public utility. No communication is maintamed with the 

 coilonies, nor anything done, so far as can be discovered, 

 to fulfil the objects of the^ institution, except to raise the 

 seeds which Government collectors and other persons 

 have profusely contributed, and then to take care of the 

 plants. 



" It is admitted that there^ is no classification ohserved 

 in the garden." 



"What names are to be fouDd in the garden have been 

 furnished by Mr. Smith, the foreman, and the Directoi 

 does not hold himself answerable for them. This was 

 most particularly inquired into, and most distinctly 

 avowed ; so that by far the most difficult part of the duty 

 of the principal officer — a duty on the perfect .execution 

 of which the credit and utility of the garden essentially 

 depends — a duty which can only be executed properly by 

 a man of high scientific attainments, aided bv an exten- 

 sive herbarium and considerable library ; this most im- 

 portant duty is thrust upon a foreman, paid small weekly 

 wages for cultivating plants, who, whatever his zeal and 

 assiduity may be (and in this case they have been such 

 as to deserve the greatest praise), has no sufficient means 

 of executing such an office. A considerable numher of 



