201 
the Office of Works to preserve the grounds as far as possible in 
their present condition. They would. only open a os from Kew 
Gardens to the cottage. e rest would remain much in its 
present condition. It would not be cut up unnecessarily, and it 
should still form one of the most ed bits of bor country 
in the proximity of London, and as it certainly had been, a 
great sanctuary ‘of all bird life in the ‘district. " (Times, "April 19. ) 
The “formal” addition of this precinct to the Royal Gardens 
took effect from May 21st. But public access cannot be given 
E provision for its maintenance and a has been made 
n the estimates for the next financial year 
New Offices.—The business offices of the Royal Gardens have 
for many years occupied extremely cramped accommodation 
o 
Descanso House (No. 181, Kew Road), adjoining the M 
Ground," the principal workyard of the establishment. The 
upper part of x house has been fitted up as a residence jm the 
Assistant Curat 
escanso Mab was for a considerable period the official 
residence of the Director during the time that the establishment 
was in Royal occupation. When W. T. Aiton, Director-General 
of the Royal Gardens at Kew and elsewhere, aes S41 he 
was allowed to retain his residence, West MN rented by 
, r e 
On Mr. Aiton's death in 1849, Descanso House was let by the 
Office of Works on a yearly tenancy. A vacancy having occurred, 
the Board has resumed possession, and devoted it to offici al 
purposes, the adjoining garden being thrown into the principal 
workyard, and a new workmen's and goods entrance constructed. 
Gardeners’ Reading Room.—Kew is, amongst its other functions, 
a school of advanced horticulture. In 1848 the Office of Wo rks 
devoted to the use of the young gardeners as a reading-room in 
the evening a portion of the building now used asa Di rector's 
office. In 1860 a new room for this deben" was added, which 
remained in use till the present year. The accommodation 
had, however, long become altogether satci for the number 
of gardeners employed, which now amounts to some fifty 
Fortunately, a large room Mene Descanso House was avail- 
able, and this the Office of Works has adapted to the purpose. 
T'wo small rooms adjoining serve as a cloak-room and lavatory. 
Bronze poete othing seems to be known as to the origin of 
the name Descanso House. Mr tnu to a statement in the 
Linn. Soc. (May 24, 1850, p. 83), it “ was bos expressly ” for 
W. A. Aiton, the first Direitor of Kew, by George III. The large 
room referred to above, which adjoins it on the ars was apparently . 
intended as a kind of summer dining-room for the use of the King 
