xlvi Sir William Jackson Hooker . 
establishment of such a system. . . . From a garden of this kind 
Government could always obtain authentic and official in- 
formation upon points connected with the establishment of 
new colonies : it would afford the plants required on these 
occasions, without its being necessary, as now, to apply to the 
officers of private establishments for advice and help. . . . Such 
a garden would be the great source of new and valuable 
plants to be introduced and dispersed through this country, 
and a powerful means of increasing the pleasures of those who 
already possess gardens ; while, what is far more important, 
it would undoubtedly become an efficient instrument in re- 
fining the taste, increasing the knowledge, and augmenting 
the amount of rational pleasures of that important class of 
society, to provide for whose instruction is so great and wise 
an object of the present administration/ 
Dr. Lindley’s recommendations as embodied in the Report 
having become widely known, enthusiastic advocates of them 
soon made themselves heard, and a memorial urging their 
adoption, drawn up by the Linnean and Horticultural Societies 
and the University of London jointly, was addressed to the 
Government, and transmitted through the Treasury. 
But to carry out such a scheme was not so simple a matter 
as at first sight appeared. There were many conflicting 
interests in high places to be consulted and conciliated during 
the three years’ interval that elapsed between the sending of 
the Report to the Treasury and its presentation to Parliament. 
These were the Lord Steward (Earl of Surrey), under whose 
control the Royal Gardens were placed ; the Commissioners 
of Woods and Forests, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and 
Parliament itself. The initial difficulty arose from the posi- 
tion of the Botanic Gardens. These, though comparatively 
small, occupied a very important site in the royal demesne at 
Kew, by far the greater part of which latter, including a royal 
palace, were to be under any circumstances retained as such. 
It was not the Botanic Garden only that was wanted, but 
the attached Arboretum and space for indefinite extension, 
and hence inevitable interference with the amenities and 
