30 



KEW GARDENS. 



hope about the chance of making such institutions self-supporting^ 

 — if the nation presents every individual who visits the Gardens 

 with a ticket costing somewhat less than ninepence, it gets into 

 the bargain gratuitously all the hoilourable advantage and horti- 

 cultural precedence which the afore-quoted passages demonstrate 

 to be its right. A curiosity arises to know how these students in 

 the Gardens comport themselves. The regulations are given in Sir 

 W. Hooker's ' Guide : — 



1 . ' Smoking, or eating and drinking, or the carrying of provi- 

 sions of any kind into the Gardens, is strictly forbidden. 



' 2. jSo packages or parcels can be admitted. Ladies, who 

 may feel incommoded by their cloaks, umbrellas, &c., can deposit 

 them in the cloak-room, near the head of the first walk.' 



John Bull and his family, absent from home, require a constant 

 supply of little 'snacks,' however hearty and recent the last meal 

 may have been. We once saw an old lady in a stage-coach pull 

 out her pocket-pistol and her cake-basket, exclaiming with a tri- 

 umphant flourish, 'I've ivnxeWed t'went?/ without tasting!' 

 And so at Kew, the hungry tourists, just landed from the 

 Boat or discharged from the Bus, buy as many pottles of 

 strawberries or gooseberries as they can carry, in addition to their 

 other provender, which is confidently brought for the purpose of 

 being devoured under the first spreading tree in the Royal Gar- 

 dens which has smooth turf and a seat beneath it. But — the 

 janitors are as iron as the gates, and as stony as the gate-posts, 

 and the fruit- vendors never drop a hint of the fact. Just outside 

 the paradise grows a very unpleasant tree, and ' beneath fit um- 

 brage' sits a faithful guardian, who, for the small fee of two-pence, 

 ' takes charge' of any parcel that may inconvenience its owner till 

 his final exit. A curious httle pile of votive offerings to the Dry- 

 ads is sometimes to be seen at the foot of this envious horse-chest- 

 nut, from the neat basket which might convey flowers and cuttings 

 out, as well as comestibles in, to the paper bag of oranges, the 

 pottles of fruit, and large uncouth packages of what the natural 



* ' It is to be lamented that the gardens of the great towns, such as Liver- 

 erpool, Glasgow, Hull, Manchester, Birmingham, (Sjc. &c., reared by volun- 

 tary subscriptions, are many of them nearly in a state of bankruptcy lor want 

 of the continual encouragement of the inhabitants ; Belfast, however, stand- 

 ing out in striking contrast, from the spirited character of its population, and 

 the peculiar tact and talent of the present curator.'^ — Report. 



