SI 
The North Wing, when given up by the contractors, was 
furnished with great basi largely due to the generosity of 
D. H. Shilson, Esq., of Tremough, Cornwall. This county is the 
natural home of these et platte in England, and now 
repaid its debt to Kew, from which it vi d e received them 
when introduced by Sir Joseph Hooker. The late Mr. Shilson, 
father of the present owner of Tremough, was = of the first to 
take up their cultivation. “ Several of the plants” transported 
from Cornwall to Kew are said to have “required a separate rail- 
way truck each, and were nearly two tons in weight.” A 
prominent feature is a large camellia 15 feet high, removed from 
Kensington Palace Gardens, where it had been ee RA Mrs. Falk, 
who presented it with other plants to the Ro 
The fine and lofty specimen of Z'rachyca: dui Re (Chamz- 
rops excelsa) was the gift of the Right Honourable Joseph 
Chamberlain, M, P., F.R.S., from whose conservatory at Highbury, 
Birmingham, i was Te e lt is a happy memorial of the 
exertions of this distinguished Fark in securing theassent of 
two successive Governments to the completion of this great 
undertaking. 
It only remains to say that the contents of the two octagons 
have been re-arranged. They are not well suited for the cultivation 
of a miscellaneous collection. "The southern is now devote n 
orangery which - ee been a desideratum at Kew ; the northern 
to standard Bays, Space in each is afforded for ‘the display d 
trained plants of Clematis, &c., in the summer, and of chrysa 
themums in the autum 
An excellent detailed account of the completed structure, with 
illustrations, is contained in the Gardeners’ Magazine for May 
1899, pp. 310-312. 
It may be added that the area of the whole structure is 13 acres, 
more than three times that of the great conservatory at Chatsworth. 
Queen's Cottage Grounds.—In accordance with the announcement 
made in the Kew Bulletin for 1898 (pp. 200, 201), the Queen's 
entrance is near the Isleworth Ferry Gate, and a railed path has 
been carried through terminating near the path through the 
Pinetum leading to the Lion Gate. This allows the Cottage, the 
expanse of wild hyacinths, pe the sylvan features of the grounds 
to be fully seen by visitors without unnecessarily disturbing 
perhaps the only “sanctuary of all bird life" which remains in 
the immediate proximity of London. 
Bulbs from Asia Minor.—Kew owes its unique display of early 
flowering spring bulbs in great avem to the constant liberality 
ward Whittall of Smyrna. A brief er of his con- 
tributions appears in the "Kew Bulletin for 1893 (p.147). We owe 
to him the sheets of white Galanthus Elwesii and of blue 
Chionodoxa which each year produce more and more striking 
effects. 
