167 



has been maintained ever since. The most memorable undertaking 

 of* this kind was the voyage of the ' Bounty ' (1787) for the purpose of 

 introducing the bread-fruit tree fiom the South Seas into the West 

 Indies. Nelson, the Kew collector, was amongst those sent adrift by 

 the mutineers, and eventually died of the exposure. Another Kew 

 gardener, James Hooper, who had been attached to Lord Amherst's 

 Embassy to China, remained in Java, and was from 1817-30 Hortu- 

 lanus of the celebrated Dutch Colonial Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg, 

 which he helped to create. 



Both George III. and Sir Joseph Banks died in 1820, and the 

 colonial and other work of Kew languished, though it was not abso- 

 lutely abandoned, during the reign of George IV. and William IV. In 

 1888 the abolition of the whole establishment was contemplated by the 

 Government. Public opposition led to the appointment of a Treasury 

 Committee, the report of which was presented to Parliament in 1840. 

 The following paragraphs briefly defined the functions of the reorgan- 

 ised establishment : — ' A national garden ought to be the centre round 

 which all minor establishments of the same nature should be arranged 

 . . From a garden of this kind Government would be able to ob- 

 tain authentic and official information on points connected with the 

 founding of new colonies ; it would afford the plants there required 

 without its being necessary, as now, to apply to the officers of private 

 establishments for advice and assistance.' 



These recommendations having been adopted by the Government, 

 Sir W. J. Hooker, F.R.S., was appointed Director in 1841 to carry 

 them out. A close connection between Kew and the Colonial Office 

 immediately sprang up. A scheme for a complete series of Colonial 

 floras was sanctioned in 1856, and has been steadily prosecuted. Kew 

 serves to a large extent as an advanced horticultural school. Special 

 attention is given to the preparation of gardeners for Colonial service. 

 Some 60 men trained at Kew are now in official emplovment in differ- 

 ent parts of the Empire. 



Relations with the botanical institutions of the self-governing 

 Colonies are maintained by semi-official correspondence. With those 

 of Colonies more directly under the control of the Colonial Office, the 

 connection is closer. 



Colonial botanical institutions fall roughly into three classes. Those 

 of the first class are usually, like Kew, administered by a scientific 

 Director ; those of the second class by a skilled Superintendent ; the 

 third class consists of Botanic Stations. These last are small and 

 inexpensive gardens, devised in 1885, in order to afford practical in- 

 struction iu the cultivation of tropical crops, and were intended to de- 

 velope the agricultural resources, at first, of the smaller West Indian 

 Islands, and subsequently (1887) of British Possessions in Tropical 

 Africa. Each is in charge of a Curator, who is a gardener trained at 

 Kew. 



The principal members of the Kew staff are : — 



Director : Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, K.C.M.G., CLE., LL.D., 

 F.R.S. 



