KEW GARDENS. 



27 



Para, 33 ; Port Phillip, 33 ; St. Domingo, 34; Sierra Leone, 71 ; 

 Sydney, 392; Soutli Australia, 76; Trinidad, 215; N'ortli-West 

 Africa, 65; West Australia, 46; Van Diemen's Land, 60; Val- 

 paraiso, 34; total 2722, despatched in 64 glazed cases, besides 

 four cases of Para grass. N.B. — From nearly all tlie above- 

 mentioned colonies or countries very rich and valuable returns 

 have been sent either to the Garden or the Museum, or both.' 



The agency of Kew in interchanging the plants of tropical cli- 

 mates is not the less important because the process is little per- 

 ceived at home ; but that much good still remains to be perform- 

 ed by this agency may be understood from the fact that till 

 1784 the mango had not been introduced to Jamaica, and the 

 acquisition then happened more by accident than by design. The 

 fruit is now largely cultivated there in upwards of forty varieties, 

 which are known not by names, but by numbers, as in Haller's 

 nomenclature, or rather lists, the finest fruit being No. 11. And 

 even after various introductions have taken place, a central half- 

 way house for tropical plants still continues necessary. The Jamai- 

 ca ginger-plant, originally a native of the East, is found so supe- 

 rior to others, that Oriental cultivators are anxious to be re-stocked 

 from the improved offspring of their own grounds. The value of 

 colonial botanic gardens here becomes apparent ; but they are 

 the provincials, and Kew the head-quarters. Dr. Lindley had 

 wisely directed attention to the importance of this point : — 



' There are (said he) many gardens in the British colonies and 

 dependencies, as Calcutta, Bombay, Saharanpore [in the Mauri- 

 tius], at Sydney and Trinidad, costing many thousands a year. 

 Their utility is much diminished by the want of some system un- 

 der which they can all be regulated and controlled. There is no 

 unity of purpose among them ; ther objects are unsettled, their 

 powers wasted, from not receiving a proper direction; they afford 

 no aid to each other, and it is to be feared but little to the coun- 

 tries where they are established ; and yet they are capable of con- 

 ferring very important benefits upon commerce and of conducing 

 essentially to colonial prosperity. , 



'A national botanic garden would be the centre around which 

 all these lesser establishments should be arranged ; they should 

 all be placed under the control of the chief of that garden, acting 

 with him and through him with each other, reporting constantly 

 their proceedings, explaining their wants, receiving supplies, and 



