SELBOR NIA N A . 
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of an undertaking which has turned out absurd and abortive, but they hardly 
deserve to be prominently held up to ridicule by such bitter irony as this. 
Possibly some botanists may ask ourselves whether it is not crushing a gnat 
with a club, or breaking a butterfly on a wheel to waste serious criticism upon such 
an undertaking. If the satire we have quoted had been sufficiently obvious we 
should not have done so, but as it is quite possible that some readers might be 
misled by it, we have found it necessary to warm them as to the real nature of the 
“ collection ” referred to. Many efforts have been made for the botanical instruc- 
tion of the flourishing juvenile branch of the Selborne Society in Richmond, 
and it would have been vexatious beyond measure that they should be induced to 
accept such inaccurate and misguiding teaching as that which we have noticed. 
We have no space to enumerate the number of elementary blunders in botany 
which appear in the description referred to. The way in which the names of 
plants are printed appear to an accurate botanist both bad botany and bad 
Latin. We should pity the fate of the schoolboy who would write of “the 
Genus Taxacece ” in a paper intended for his master's eye. The most curious 
part of the affair is that the mistake made cannot be traced to any source what- 
ever. Among a score of more or less familiar works on British Botany, many of 
them of course defective in parts, there is not one that gives any support to the 
extraordinary statements given above. It seems as if those responsible had either 
evolved their notions cut of their own internal consciousness or had picked up 
hear-say gossip inaccurate and misleading, without the slightest idea that those 
who aspire to teach others should have some slight modicum of knowledge them- 
selves. The lady whom we have mentioned is doubtless quite right in her desire 
for sound botanical instruction at Richmond, but assuredly it is not with the 
juvenile Selbornians it ought to begin. 
But the question is what is to be done in the matter ? Surely there must be more 
than one botanist in Richmond who could prevent the perpetration for the future 
of such gross blunders as have been recounted. The investment of sixpence in 
a copy of the London Catalogue, which we lately recommended as a sine quA non 
even for tyros, would prevent the commission of the more serious blunders as to 
distribution. There is, we know, one lady Selbornian who has a really interest- 
ing garden of British wild flowers, within a short distance of that we have 
described ; probably, if properly approached by the combined committees, she 
might give them from the sweepings of her garden a far better collection than 
that of which they are at present so proud. At any rate, unless they take some 
steps in the matter, their “botanical garden” will be a laughing stock to not 
only every botanist in the country, but to every child who has learnt the rudi- 
ments of botanical knowledge at a common national school. 
The discovery that such ignorance should be possible among the ruling powers of 
a place like Richmond, and that so good an opportunity of doing a good work should 
be utterly thrown away has confirmed us in our purpose of giving some particulars 
as to real gardens of British wild-flowers, with hints as to the manner in which 
they may be best started and continued. Mr. Arthur Bennett, F. L. S., has kindly 
promised to give us some account of the garden in which he has grown some of 
the rarest British plants by experiment and distribution. We have received from 
the Rev. E. Gepp, M.A., a list of the extensive weed-garden at Foisted of which 
we recently wrote. Mrs. Brightwen has kindly promised an account of the 
British plants grown in her beautiful garden at Stanmore. Probably we shall be 
able to print an account of the plants grown in the Twickenham garden which 
we have just mentioned. It is hoped that particulars may be given of some of the 
older Botanical Gardens, such as that of Mr. Pamplin in Wales. Mr. R. J. G. 
Read, for a long time Hon. Secretary of the Bedford Park Natural History and 
Gardening Society, has promised us the fruit of his long experience in introducing 
wild plants into the garden. At any rate we trust that we shall be able to give 
our readers such instruction as may prevent the possibility of any other locality 
being the scene of such a ridiculous fiasco as that at Richmond. 
Beautiful Wrought Iron Gates Perishing.— Our next extract, a 
much more practical one, is also from the Richmond and Twickenham Times , of 
which we may repeat that there is no newspaper so rich in fruitful suggestion for 
Selbornian work. It concerns the wrought iron gates near Richmond, whose sad 
condition we mentioned in the last number of Nature Notes. It would not 
seem strange if England, the greatest iron country in the world were to have 
