882 BOTANY : ITS POSITION AND PROSPECTS 
M thing for Kew, but we are still young, and have far too 
much to do to complete what we have on hand. 
Were a Herbm. not necessary to Kew, I would say at 
once let my Father's go to the B. M., but it is impossible 
to work scientifically a garden of 20,000 to 30,000 'species, 
and name the hundreds of things sent to us to name, with- 
out a first-rate Herbarium and Library here, as good as ever 
the B. M. ought to be made. The seeds sent are often to be 
known only by the accompanying dried specimens which 
go into the Herbarium, and the latter becomes in a thousand 
ways an indispensable adjunct to the Garden and reciprocally 
(by being the depository of the plants once cultivated in 
the Garden) an integral part of the estabhshment, and a 
record of its progress and efforts, its successes and failures 
as a horticultural estabhshment, all quite apart from its 
scientific uses. 
The offer of other botanical collections to Oxford and 
Cambridge, neither of which was enthusiastic, had already 
given opportunity for pushing the cause of science in the 
older Universities, where it was still of small account. The 
Fielding and Lemann collections were on offer, but there 
were difficulties to be overcome. Thus ' The Fielding Her- 
barium,' 1 he writes to Harvey in January 1852, ' is to be 
offered to Oxford upon conditions of good keep, accessibility 
and extension : terms which I think Oxford won't agree to.' 
Moreover the question of extra-mural Trustees and their duty 
after the collections had been accepted was a thorny one, 
alike to Sir W. Hooker, who had been nominated, and to the 
University as legatee. 
I cannot help thinking [he writes to Bentham, Feb. 5, 1852] 
that these Legacies may be the means of instilling new hfe 
into the Universities; the conditions being reasonable. A 
proper representation backed perhaps by P. A. [Prince Albert] 
as Chancellor, with the offer of such a Herb, as Fielding's 
or Lemann's, should do wonders, especially as, in future, a 
^ Henry Borron Fielding, a country gentleman whose health prevented 
hiin from taking any active share in scientific life, devoted himself to botany. 
He purchased Dr. Steudel's herbar-'um in 1836 and the Prcscott collection in 
1837, bequeathing his entire herbarium and many books to Oidorcl on his 
death in 1851. 
