104 ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 



generally admitted that the level of cultivation is high. On the 

 whole, one is justified in saying that there is no one place in the 

 world Avhere ornamental gardening in all its phases can be so thor- 

 oughly, conveniently, and usefully studied as at Kew. 



Botanical students. — A certain class of visitor always characteristic 

 of Kew from its early days has in recent years become much more 

 abundant. This is the young man or woman going from plant to 

 plant with a book of botany or plant lore in hand, and trying to get 

 to the bottom of the mystery of leaf and flower arrangement, or to 

 fix the plant's identity in mind. Some of these visitors come alone, 

 some in classes ; some are teachers in elementary schools ; many prob- 

 ably are their pupils; but whoever they may be, their increasing 

 numbers is very gratifying. It is largely clue, no doubt, to the 

 encouragement of nature study by educational authorities and to 

 the many associations which have this object in view. 



Artists. — The pictorial or landscape aspect of Kew attracts a large 

 and increasing body of painters, photographers, and picture makers 

 of all kinds. It is now a usual thing for artists to spend the whole 

 of the spring and summer months working here alone. That Kew is 

 worthy of this homage is, I think, proved by the work of the well- 

 known and talented artist whose pictures illustrate this volume. 



A training school. — Kew has many functions, but none is more 

 far-reaching in its effect than the training of young men for the 

 various careers open to those whose special knowledge is of plant 

 life in one or other of its phases. At the present time Kew employs 

 more than a hundred botanists and skilled gardeners. The former 

 are mostly permanent employees, but the great majority of the latter 

 stay for a short time only — usually about two years. They enter 

 Kew after having had at least four years' experience in other gar- 

 dens. Their object usually is to acquire such knowledge as will fit 

 them for posts in the botanic gardens or commercial plantations in 

 the colonies and India, as managers and superintendents of public 

 parks and private gardens in Great Britain, as county council lec- 

 turers, and for positions in the various trades connected with 

 horticulture. 



Its alumni. — Since Kew became a public institution many hun- 

 dreds of such men have passed through it. Most of them are. of 

 course, natives of Great Britain, but a certain number of places are 

 reserved for foreigners. Those are eagerly sought after by men of 

 nearly all civilized nationalities, but more especially, perhaps, by 

 the Teutonic and Scandinavian races. The Kew staff, how r ever, be- 

 sides Europeans and Americans, has at times included Japanese and 

 Negroes. At the present time over TOO of its alumni are scattered 

 over the world, spreading its teaching and providing the efficacy of 

 its methods. Kew. in relation to the personnel of horticulture, holds, 

 as has frequently been pointed out. a position analogous to that of 

 the university in the ordinary field of education. It not only sup- 

 plies material and unrivaled opportunities for the study of advanced 

 horticulture and botany: it brings together at a receptive and im- 

 pressionable age a considerable body of men. By bringing into force 

 that stimulating element of competition and emulation which is the 

 salt of young man's life it helps to mould his character as no previous 

 part of his professional career can have done. 



