KEW TO-DAY 
6 7 
knowledge as will fit them for posts in the botanic gardens or com- 
mercial plantations in the Colonies and India, as managers and 
superintendents of public parks and private gardens in Great 
Britain, as County Council lecturers, and for positions in the various 
trades connected with horticulture. 
Since Kew became a public institution, many hundreds of such 
men have passed through it. Most of them are, of course, natives 
Its Alumni ^ rea * Britain, but a certain number of places are 
reserved for foreigners. These are eagerly sought after 
by men of nearly all civilised nationalities, but more especially, 
perhaps, by the Teutonic and Scandinavian races. The Kew staff, 
however, besides Europeans and Americans, has at times included 
Japanese and negroes. At the present time over seven hundred of 
its alumni are scattered over the world, spreading its teaching and 
proving the efficacy of its methods. Kew, in relation to the personnel 
of horticulture, holds, as has frequently been pointed out, a position 
analogous to that of the university in the ordinary field of education. 
It not only supplies material and unrivalled opportunities for the 
study of advanced horticulture and botany ; it brings together at a 
receptive and impressionable age a considerable body of men. By 
bringing into force that stimulating element of competition and emu- 
lation which is the salt of a young man’s life, it helps to mould his 
character as no previous part of his professional career can have done. 
Besides the experience and teaching that employment among 
the plant collections gives, a fine horticultural library is provided, 
and several courses of lectures on botany and allied subjects are given 
annually. A debating society and a field club are admirable and 
important institutions, bringing into the curriculum a social element 
that is very valuable. The mere contact with a large number of 
men engaged in similar pursuits, which a term at Kew involves, has 
many advantages, especially to one who may have, in the future, 
the management of labour. 
Not unnaturally the general desire of men of all ranks who had 
passed through Kew to keep in touch with each other and the parent 
Kew Guild establishment led to the foundation of the Kew Guild. 
This association issues a journal which constitutes a con- 
necting link between all its members. This journal records changes 
and events at Kew, publishes news from members at home and abroad, 
and gives the names and addresses of all its members. As an 
