44 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
timber for fencing cattle-yards. . . . Through the spread of vege- 
tation the water supply is excellent, and the ships visiting the 
island are supplied with an abundance of vegetables of various 
kinds.” This affords a concrete instance of the value of one phase 
of Kew’s work. 
The Victoria regia had first flowered in a small tank quite 
inadequate for the display of its noble proportions. In 1852 a 
new house with a circular tank 36 feet in diameter was built for 
it. The house is the present No. 15, situated some fifty yards 
north of the Palm House. The grounds surrounding the Queen’s 
Cottage (at that time called the Swiss Cottage) were laid out on 
behalf of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort. 
The most important event of the year, however, was the presenta- 
tion to Kew by Miss Blomfield of the botanical library and herbarium 
of her brother, Dr. W. A. Blomfield. The books 
and^entham a ^ one were worth £800. This gift may be said to 
have been the beginning of the national botanical 
library and herbarium at Kew. Sir William Hooker’s private her- 
barium, although placed unreservedly at the service of all students 
at Kew, did not become public property until after his death in 1865. 
In 1853 the herbarium was reinforced by a still more important 
gift. George Bentham, even then distinguished as a botanist, but 
afterwards still more famous as the author of the “ Flora of Australia ” 
and the collaborator with Sir J oseph Hooker in the Genera Plantarum, 
also gave his private herbarium and library to Kew. 
To afford space for the accommodation of these important 
acquisitions, the Queen granted the use of the house on Kew Green 
(Hunter House), which had been occupied by the 
King of Hanover up to the time of his death. This 
building, twice enlarged since then, still holds the Kew 
herbarium and library. 
The opening of the gardens almost unreservedly to the public 
in 1841 had proved a great success. The number of visitors kept 
on rapidly increasing, and to their excellent behaviour 
Sunday the director repeatedly bore testimony. A further step 
p 1 **' towards popularising Kew was taken in 1853. The 
gardens, including the hot-houses and museums, were opened to the 
public on Sundays. Kew was the first, and for many years remained 
the only, scientific institution that adopted this policy. The privilege 
Herbarium 
Founded. 
