PARK AND CEMETERY. 
9 
ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS, KEW, SURREY, 
ENGLAND. XL 
GARDENERS. 
Advantages enjoyed by gardeners of to day at Kew 
have been evolved virtually since the establishment was 
made public in 1841. Said Sir Wm. Hooker (Report, 
1862, p. 2): “A commodious reading room for the 
foremen and gardeners, with the dwelling rooms for two 
of the foremen, have been erected adjoining the 
director’s office. To this the men’s library has been 
removed, and in it Prof. Oliver voluntarily delivers lec- 
tures to the foremen, gardeners, etc., throughout the 
winter months. The attendance at the library and lec- 
tures have been in 
every respect sat- 
isfactory and pro- 
ductive of excel- 
lent results.” Sir 
Jos. D. Hooker 
committed him- 
self thus (Report, 
1875, ps. 2 and 
3:) “During the 
last year practical 
lessons in various 
departments o f 
botany and i t s 
kindred subjects 
have been given 
to the young 'gar- 
deners with a view 
of preparing them 
better for their 
duties in general, 
and esp e c i a 1 1 y 
qualifying them 
for govern m e n t 
and other situations in the Colonies and India, where a 
scientific knowledge of gardening, arboriculture, etc., is 
required. The lessons are given in the evening after work- 
ing hours, and embrace the elements of structural, sys- 
tematic and physical botany; of chemistry, physical geo- 
graphy and metereology in their application to horticul- 
ture; of economic botany, forestry, etc. They are given, 
some in the young men’s library, others in the garden or 
museum. Attendance is not compulsory, but any one 
commencing one of the courses is required to go 
through with it and take notes, which are written out in 
books, and these are examined periodically. The 
courses are short, and some of them are repeated twice 
or oftener during the year, so as to enable a succession 
of young gardeners (who cannot well attend to more 
than one course at a time) to obtain instruction in all 
or most of the subjects taught. It should be premised 
that no young gardeners are to be taken into the service 
of the Royal Gardens who have not passed their 
apprenticeship elsewhere; that they come ostensibly for 
the purpose of self-improvement, and are expected to 
remain for two years in the service. They, however, 
seldom remain more than twelve to eighteen months, the 
fact of having served at Kew being considered so high 
a recommendation for curatorships of botanic and 
other public gardens, and by persons requiring gardeners 
with a special knowledge of plants, and the demands 
upon Kew for gardeners to serve in India and the 
Colonies, being very frequent. Thougli attendance has 
been voluntary, it has been remarkably good, three- 
fourths of the young gardeners availing themselves of 
the lessons, and tue results have been extremely satis- 
factory both in res])ect of the encouragement to self- 
improvement among the gardeners and of the increased 
confidence with which the authorities of the establish- 
ment can recommend them for employment elsewhere 
It may be mentioned here that, as has been the case 
with evening at- 
tendance in the 
library, the fact 
of good attend- 
ance on the les- 
sons is recorded 
in every garden- 
er’s certificate of 
conduct and pro- 
ficiency on his 
leaving the s e r - 
vice of this estab- 
lishment. 
Numerous ap- 
plications for ad- 
mission to the les- 
sons have been re- 
ceived from per- 
s o n s inhabiting 
the neighbor- 
hood, which, in all 
cases, have been 
refused. It is ob- 
vious that the 
amount of benefit to be obtained from such lessons 
given to young men who come to Kew, and who are 
for the most part profoundly ignorant of the subjects 
taught, depends mainly on the individual attention 
which each receives from the instructor, and that the 
presence of strangers would impede that free inter- 
course that should subsist between the teachers and 
their pupils, amongst whom not a few are unaccustomed 
to that severe training in the exercise of the hands, eyes 
and reasoning powers that is required to master in a few 
lessons a sound knowledge of the principles upon which 
the science and practice of botany and horticulture are 
based.” 
In the report of t88i mention is made to the effect 
that twice a week for about nine months in the year 
lessons are given by the staff and others, and the attend- 
ance has been more than the lecture room has been 
adequate to. The efficiency of Kewites, as viewed by 
merchants, is shown by an article in the Times of 
December, 1870, a time when the cultivation of cotton 
in India was being promoted with earnestness and since 
become an established industry: “The second batch of 
six well- trained gardeners from the Royal Gardens, 
Kew, for the cotton plantation in India, sailed last 
