295 
n his book on the construction of timber (1770) Sir John Hill 
(р. 33) speaks of Kew as “ that garden where every tree that has been 
seen in Europe is at hand." 
In 1772 the Princess Augusta died. George III. iie A eir 
the freehold of Kew House and grounds from the Dowager Countess of 
ssex. He maintained the botanical character of the stab ese 
with even greater energy than his mother. Lord Bute disappeared in 
filled in the lifetime of the Princess Augusta was now taken by Sir 
Joseph Banks, who was virtually through the greater T of his life 
Director of the Gardens. Meantime Ai d me Superin- 
tendent. Thornton published (17 99) a à - graceful a of Hill with a 
view of Kew House, He styles him “First Superintendent of the 
Royal Gardens at Kew.” But there seems to be по evidence of his 
ever having occupied such a position. 
Francis Masson. 
1772 the practice was commenced of sending out on ене, In 
de Ba nksian Correspondence at the British ie ee ther a mcr a 
randum (without date) addressed to the Kin Sir озер 
his capacity as President of the Royal Society," fe om which the following 
рии are ne pape 
* In th r John cn o Дн ia A were of the PM Society, made 
etus о Еф "Majesty that Mr. Mas of the under gardeners at 
w, might be appointed to re eside for mie ua а te Cape of Good Hope, in 
his expenses, h ram чне they did not e 200/. a year, and a recompence on 
his return of 1007. а year, Mr. Masson sail'd nye that place, and was absent from 
England ме 3 years (art 4-6]. 
* * * ж 
“In she course of this voyage Mr. Masson collected and sent home a protos of 
plants unknown till that time to the Botanical ЧИА! in Europe, а full account of 
which will appear in Mr. gna: ’s Catalogue of the S aeu in 5 Royal абаа 
е at Kew, which is nearly ready for public: ; by means of these, Kew 
n has in great measure attained to that prise à superiority which it 
now holds over every similar establishment in Europe; some of which at Trianon, 
aris, U ‚ &c. till lately vyed with each other for pre-eminence, without 
admitting even a competition жы any English garden 
Francis Masson was born at Aberdeen in 1741. He was the first 
- one of the most able and dieti of the numerous gardeners sent 
ut from Kew to collect living plants for the garden. From the Cape 
e sent home a very large number of living plants, amounting, according 
to a letter from him to Linnzus, to 400 species, sale new ee 
Sir James Smith, writing in Rees’s Cyclop: 
“well recollects the pleasure which the novel sight of an African geranium in 
Yorkshire. and Norfolk gave him about forty years ago. N 
n 
ibe and every 
greenhouse "ph with the innumerable bulbous атн n irc ec heaths of the 
Cape. For all these we are pipe indebted to Mr. ; besides a multitude 
of edem more difficult of preservation or propagation, percer tothe more curious 
collec 
"in of the most interesting of these was the plant formerly known 
as Encephalartos Caffer (E. longifolius). This was introduced by 
asson in 1 1. 61n,1819 i 
* being his last visitto the garden." (Smith, Вене р. 132.) Тһе 
plant still exists in the Palm-house. 
U 70115. x 
