434 Kew Garden. 



" But this is only one out of many reasons why a national Botanical 

 Garden should be maintained by Government near London. 



" There are many Gardens in the British colonies and dependen- 

 cies ; such establishments exist in Calcutta, Bombay, Saharunpore, 

 in the Isle of France, at Sydney, and in Trinidad, costing many 

 thousands a-year. Their utility is very much diminished by the want 

 of some system under which they can all be regulated and controlled. 

 They are in a similar condition to the Royal Foreign and Kitchen 

 Gardens, already disposed of. There is no unity of purpose among 

 them ; their objects are unsettled ; their powers wasted, from not re- 

 ceiving a proper direction ; they afford no aid or assistance to each 

 other, and it is to be feared, in some cases, but little to the countries 

 in which they are established ; and yet they are capable of conferring 

 very important benefits upon commerce, and of conducing essentially 

 to colonial prosperity. 



" A national Botanical Garden would be the centre around which 

 all those minor establishments should be arranged; they should be 

 all under the controul of the chief of that Garden, acting in concert 

 with him, and through him, with each other, reporting constantly 

 their proceedings, explaining their wants, receiving their supplies, and 

 aiding the mother country in every thing that is useful in the vegeta- 

 ble kingdom. Medicine, Commerce, Agriculture, Horticulture, and 

 many valuable branches of Manufacture, would derive considerable 

 advantages from the establishment of such a system." — Lancet, 

 June 13th, 1840. 



