PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 13 



mound (which bears a miscellaneous collection of trees 

 and shrubs) is the orangery and a line of greenhouses 

 for temperate plants. The northern area includes an 

 acclimatisation garden and an area devoted to the culture 

 of fruit trees and plants used in the arts. The extreme 

 north is occupied by the necessary store houses and out- 

 buildings, the museum, library, &c. 



The decade which saw the foundation of the Montpellier 

 gardens saw also the establishment of gardens in con- 

 nection with the Universities of Heidelberg, Leipzig 

 and Breslau. In 1597 Paris followed suit. The story 

 goes that the now famous Jardin des Plantes was 

 primarily established with the intention of investigating 

 what variations were possible in the style of the bouquets 

 worn at the Koyal Court — truly a noble piece of research ! 

 Its first claim to be considered as a botanic garden was 

 not made until about 1630 when professorships of Botany 

 and Pharmacology were instituted. Strassburg in 1619, 

 Jena in 1629, Oxford in 1632, Messina in 1638, Chelsea 

 in 1677, Edinburgh in 1680 and Berlin in 1714 are the 

 next examples of note. As the Physic Garden at Chelsea 

 has the honour of being the first and oldest botanic 

 garden in Great Britain, perhaps I may select it for more 

 than mere mention. It is true that Gerard, the author 

 of the famous Herbal, is said to have had a private medi- 

 cinal garden attached to his house in Holborn, and also 

 Tradescant, gardener to James L, and after whom the 

 well known Tradescantia has been named, cultivated 

 exotics in a garden situated where S. Lambeth now 

 stands, still as a public garden that of Chelsea is un- 

 doubtedly entitled to priority. The immediate founders 

 of the Chelsa Gardens were the members of the Society 

 of Apothecaries who now for over two centuries have 

 maintained it solely for the advancement of the science 



