58 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
developed ; long, informal vistas have been made to give a sense 
of spaciousness which would otherwise be lost in an area so flat 
and thickly wooded as Kew ; and every opportunity 
Improvements ^ een t a k en to bring into view attractive objects 
p ’ and scenes both within and without the gardens. 
The general health of the trees has been much improved — a factor 
of no small importance where so much of sylvan beauty depends 
on luxuriance of growth. 
Of entirely new features in the Arboretum, the Bamboo Garden, 
made in 1891-2, and the Sunk Rose Garden near the Pagoda, made 
in 1895-6, are the most important. The Lily Pond, 
near the Pinetum, was made in 1897, and has developed 
ea ures. - n ^ 0 a c h arm j n g spot. 
The refining process which Kew underwent so largely during Sir 
William Thiselton-Dyer’s directorate is very well exemplified by the 
walks and lawns. There is scarcely a walk which has not had its 
curves improved, and a great proportion of the lawn area has been 
relaid, its surface smoothed, and the beauty of its contours enhanced. 
Although an unobtrusive work, this is one involving much cost and 
labour, and there is nothing that helps more to give to a garden an 
air of finish and refinement. 
The addition of the grounds of Kew Palace to the part of Kew 
open to the public has greatly improved the north-west portion of 
the Gardens. The first part so added (in 1895) was an 
Ext U d d area 4 ^ acres in extent, called the Palace Meadow. It 
was part of the ancient lawn in front of Kew House, which 
is shown in eighteenth-century engravings, often with the old orange- 
trees of the time ranged in line on one side. When the Pleasure 
Grounds were given over to the charge of Sir W. Hooker in 1845, 
this piece of ground was retained as a precinct of the present Kew 
Palace. When, fifty years later, it was thrown open and annexed 
to the public grounds, the western side of the Gardens, including the 
Rhododendron Dell, was rendered much more accessible from the 
chief entrance on Kew Green. A further portion was annexed in 
1902, the boundary fence being set back to the private nursery near 
Brentford Ferry Gate. Finally, in the autumn of 1905, the old 
stables of Kew Palace being demolished, the ground on which they 
stood, as well as Kew Palace itself, was, by permission of the King, 
brought into the Gardens. 
