xlvii 
West Park and Kew , 1841-1865. 
privacy of the palace and its approaches. Even more formid- 
able obstacles were the large expenditure which would have 
to be incurred on creating such an establishment as Dr. Lindley 
had outlined, and the best means of controlling it. 
In the above-cited interval the fate of the Botanic Gardens 
was all but sealed, as the following extract taken from a 
little work, the author of which was a witness of the occur- 
rence which he describes, proves :— f In the autumn of 1839 
the Lord Steward, then Lord Surrey, who in virtue of his 
office had the whole management of the Royal Gardens, paid 
frequent visits to the Botanic Gardens, always accompanied 
by the superintendent of the kitchen garden, and carefully 
examined the greenhouses and pits ; and it became known 
that it was his intention to convert them into vineries and 
pine stoves, and that the plants had been offered to the 
Horticultural Society for their garden at Chiswick, and also 
to the Royal Botanic Society for their garden at Regent’s 
Park ; but the offer was in both cases declined. The vinery 
scheme was, however, intended to be carried out, and on 
February 18, 1840, the kitchen gardener informed me that he 
had received instructions from Lord Surrey to take possession 
of the “ Botany Bay House ” and convert it as soon as possible 
into a vinery, and that the “ Cape House ” was to follow ; and 
to enable him to do so he was to destroy the plants 1 . This 
becoming known to the public led to articles in the public 
journals condemning the scheme as being a disgrace to the 
nation. This had the desired effect, and Lord Surrey’s scheme 
was abandoned V 
1 The collections of Australian and S. African plants were unique. Some of the 
specimens were half a century old. 
2 Records of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, by John Smith, ex-Curator. 
London, 1880. That the Royal Botanic Gardens maintained any position as 
a scientific establishment in the interval between the death of Sir Joseph Banks in 
1820 and the appointment of the new Director in 1841, was wholly due to the 
unaided exertions of Mr. Smith, who, from being a foreman under Mr. Aiton, 
became Curator from 1841 till 1864 under my father. He kept up the corre- 
spondence with the colonial Gardens in the West Indies, S. Africa, and Australia, 
himself sowing the seeds and raising the plants that these contributed, and 
carefully recording their scientific names, habitats, and donors’ names. For 
