19 
he most nn Colonial botanical institutions in intimate 
relation with Kew 
- Ceylon. rode of Royal Botanic Gardens : J. C. Willis, 
Straits ig —Director of Gardens and Forest 
Departme : H.N. Ridley, 
* Jamaica. Sophos of Public Gardens and Plantations : 
William Fawcett, B.Sc. 
“ In 1898, in accordance with the recommendations of the West 
India Commission, a Special Department of Agriculture was 
created for Barbados, the Leeward and the Winds Islands, 
and was placed under the charge of a Commissioner, with 
headquarters at Barbados 
LONG NT. FAX Agriculture at Barbados: D. Morris, 
d = the Temperate House. —On Bank Holiday, May 1, 
the Nor ing, the last uncompleted portion Great 
rp a n was thrown open to the publie. The com- 
pletion of the South Wing was announced in the Kew Bulletin 
for oe (p p. 333, 334). The Building News for February 12 
and 19, 1897, contained a full account of it, with detailed 
draw Uum 
Some particulars may now be given of the structure as a whole, 
and of the history of its erection. The first scheme of the house 
was projected by Sir William Hooker, in 1855. The design, as 
now practically completed, was made by Decimus Burton, who 
also designed the Palm House. The Builder for January 12, 1861, 
contains a ground plan and elevation, with detailed particulars of 
the whole structure. 
In 1860 Her Majesty's Office of Works entered into a (CÓ 
with Messrs. Cubitt ** to construct the centre of the new Temperat 
House in Kew Gardens and the octagons for the sum of £28, 858.” 
The pie cost appears to have been approximately about pee 000. 
The oof is of w wrought-iron, the columns of cast-iron. At present 
1861 the octagons at either end were finished. Taking 
MR er measurements for these fas "s all other portions of the 
structure) their diameter is > = 
In 1862 the central part of e bui lding was completed : 
216 feet long by 140 feet Vide. and (inside) 60 feet RR A 
raised terrace ind keny for ie building, and space provided on 
it for the two Their erection was, however, indefinitely 
postponed in 1863, pite, the foundations had been partially 
laid ; part of the iron-work lay in the contractor’s yard for many 
years, and on Actores broken up. 
In 1894, thirty-one years later, the erection of the South Wing 
was piede "ana 1 n 1897 that of the North. The former 
was completed in that year and the latter in the present. A 
period of thirty-nine years has, therefore, ela tween the 
commencement of the structure and its completion. 
