FUTURE OF CHELSEA BOTANIC GARDEN. 125 
ment.*‘ It is hemmed in on one side by lofty red-bricked 
mansions, and on the other by humbler, yet densely-packed 
tenements. The trees, too, hide the ancient cedar, survivor of 
its fellow blown down in 1845, and “ the embankment has 
robbed the garden of the water-stairs given by Sir Hans 
Sloane.” 
Like the parterre of a deserted mansion, sequestered and 
barred to the public, no wonder such a spot, lonely amidst the 
turmoil of London, is forgotten, and to all but the surrounding 
inhabitants, almost unknown. Yet in former days, before the 
foundation of the more celebrated garden at Kew, it must have 
been a notable place, for “ Evelyn used to walk in the Apothe- 
caries’ Garden and admire ‘ besides many rare annuals, the tree- 
bearing Jesuit’s bark which has done such wonders in quartan 
ague.’ ” 
Quite lately some degree of public interest has been aroused 
in this long-forgotten spot. The ever restless sea of bricks and 
mortar now seeks to inundate this island of green, and ere long 
the builder hopes to be making havoc of its shady walks and 
flower-beds. Not many weeks ago a meeting was held at the 
Chelsea Town Hall, under the presidency of Lord Meath, to 
protest against the sale of the garden by the Apothecaries’ Com- 
pany, and a resolution, modified into a declaration, was passed, 
that an effort should be made to preserve it as an open space. 
Now better far than that the garden should pass into the hands 
of the builders, would be that it were kept as an open space ; 
but, we would add, not exactly in the sense of the other 
numerous, though not too numerous, recreation grounds of 
the metropolis. If secured to the use of the public for ever, it 
is difficult to see why it should not, all the same, be devoted to 
the use for which it was designed by its founder, namely, for the 
study of botany as a means of learning the medicinal and noxious 
properties of plants ; of promoting healthy relaxation to those 
engaged in manual or sedentary employment, and of teaching 
observant habits of mind. With the sole exception of medicine, 
more especially in its clinical aspect, no science is easier to be 
demonstrated, and learnt by demonstration, than is botany. It 
was his never being content with mere book-learning, but 
believing that botany could only be grasped as a science by 
actual field observation that gave the late Professor Henslow 
such success with his pupils at Cambridge, and with those in 
his village school. 
If such an object as now suggested, were attained, no doubt 
there would be found plenty of botanists, whose knowledge and 
position would enable them to do so, ready and willing to give 
lectures and demonstrations on summer evenings and at other 
times in the garden. 
* This is the only old Botanical Garden in London left, “ Gerard’s at Holborn 
and Tradescant’s at Lambeth having perished.” (flare’s “ Walks about Lon- 
don.”) 
