80 
While the general features of Didun Burton’s design have been 
followed, the construction of the North Wing is much lighter 
than that of the South. The material used is rolled steel. The 
e was erected with rapidity and thorough precision in the 
workmanship by Messrs. Mackenzi e and Moncur, of Edinburgh, 
le, The 
: ivers, Esq., the Surveyor of Her Majesty’s Office of 
Works in charge of Kew 
Each wing is 116 feet long by 64 feet wide and (inside) 38 feet 
high. Four lobbies, each 12 feet long by 7 feet wide, two at either 
end, connect the octagons to the wings and the central part to the 
octagons. Beyond the wings are entrance porches, each 12 feet 
by 8 feet. 
e total exireme length of the building is thus 628 feet, and, 
including the porches at either side, the greatest width is 164 feet. 
The cost of each wing has been about £7,000. The total cost 
of the whole building has been, therefore, £43,000. This includes 
the isa of spacious under-ground tanks for the collection 
of rain-wa 
- - óriginnl scheme of the house, Sir William Hooker had 
in view the completion of ~ representation of the woody 
ale of the world. mA the Mv ies was provided for in 
the Palm House, and that he Cool Temperate Zone in the 
Arboretum. The object of s este o House was to provide 
accommodation for the plants of intermediate climates which 
would not tolerate an fcn winter. Sir William Hooker 
explains, in his Report for 1859, that “as the contents of this 
structure will be of the same character as those h ardy plants 
which constitute the * Arboretum, it is the intention to erect it 
rige the so-called Arboretum or Pleasure Ground," as that was 
— 
In his Report for 1866, Sir Joseph Hooker, in again urging 
* the completion of this grand structure, by far the finest in 
Europe," suggested * devoting one of the ‘contemplated wings to 
the plants of our northern colonies and possessions, and the other 
to those of the southern.” 
In the centre block Australian and New Zealand vegetation is 
predominant. As explained in the Kew Bulletin for 1897 (p. 334), 
the contents of the South Wing have largely a Mexican character. 
In other words, it is devoted to plants of warm temperate 
countries, which in cultivation require a * warm greenhouse’ 
treatment. 
The North Wing, on the other hand, has been devoted to 
Himalayan, Chinese, and Japanese plants, which, while for the 
most part able to resist an English winter, are unable to tolerate 
the rigour of an English spring. 
The plan of laying out the ground in the interior is the same 
as that of the South Wing. This has been described in the Kew 
Bulletin (l.e., p. 334). The beds contain a complete collection of 
yan rhododendrons, together with some of their most 
stetur te tender ne camellias, etc. The centre walk is lined 
with clumps of the Japanese Phyllostachys mitis, obtained from 
Algeria. At the north end there is a rock pool on either side. 
