36 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
After the death of Sir Joseph Banks, in 1820, no further plant- 
collectors had been sent out from Kew, with the exception of George 
Barclay, who in 1835 went to Western South America 
Burke 6 an d several of the Pacific Islands in H.M.S. Sulphur 
as botanical collector. But, in 1843, Sir William Hooker 
made an arrangement with the Duke of Northumberland and the 
Earl of Derby by which the cost of sending out two collectors was 
shared by them and Kew. In virtue of this arrangement two plant- 
collectors were despatched — Purdie to New Granada and Burke to 
North-West America. The seeds and plants they sent home were 
apportioned between the three contributors to the enterprise. Purdie 
and Burke were recalled in 1845, the former being appointed super- 
intendent of the Botanic Garden at Trinidad. But whilst Kew was 
receiving so extensively from establishments at home and abroad, 
the credit side of the account was not overlooked. The governors, 
directors of gardens, and other officials in the colonies were freely 
supplied with plants new to, and likely to be valuable in, their re- 
spective territories. Among the first things distributed wherever 
opportunity offered a likelihood of success were the finer varieties 
of oranges and bananas, and the cochineal cactus. Thus was begun 
a work recommended in Lindley’s report, which has always been 
vigorously carried on since that time, and which has conferred in- 
estimable advantages on the Empire. 
A new Orchid House was built in 1845, the immediate object 
being to house the fine collection of plants which had come from 
Woburn. In 1846 they were reinforced by the Broughton Hall 
collection, bequeathed to Kew by the Rev. J. Clowes. The Tropical 
Fern House of to-day is the Orchid House of 1845, much altered 
and improved. 
Sir William Hooker’s activity showed itself as much in the 
grounds as in the stoves and greenhouses. In 1842 a portion of 
the private grounds of Queen Victoria adjoining Kew 
Entr nce^ 11 Green was granted by her Majesty for the purpose of 
making a new entrance. Hitherto, access to the gardens 
had been obtained by way of a narrow, obscure passage on Kew 
Green, the entry to which was where the fire-engine house is now. 
Mr. Decimus Burton, F.R.S., was commissioned to design the new 
gates. The result was an auspicious beginning for the new regime, 
for the noble gates and pillars which constitute what is now known 
