Wes/: Park and Kew , 1841-1865. Ixxiii 
shorn every now and then of their graceful and stately heads 
in order to bring them under the shelter of a dark roof, that 
of the “ Orangery,” only twenty- three feet high, or in a hovel 
of a building long ago condemned as discreditable to the 
Gardens. The crying need of a new Conservatory has long 
been admitted. One very old and decayed greenhouse, which 
had been tenanted by a portion of the very plants in question, 
was pulled down four years ago with the understanding that 
it should be replaced by a better building ; and numerous 
desirable works have been postponed that the money destined 
for them might be applied to erecting a structure commensu- 
rate to our wants. I do not know that I can express my 
views on this subject in stronger words than I used last year, 
and which I beg to repeat. In my Report for 1856 I said 
that I must speak almost in the past tense of those superb 
Mexican, Australian, and Norfolk Island Araucarias, conifers, 
&c., which were once the pride of Kew Gardens, but that 
while some had suffered past recovery, others might still be 
restored by affording them needful space, light, and tempera- 
ture. I added, as a further proof of the evident necessity of 
the house in question, that during the whole sixteen (now 
seventeen) years of my Directorship, not any addition had 
been made to the accommodation for these kinds of plants ; 
it had indeed, as above shown, sustained a diminution. The 
Gardens cannot be deemed complete till the trees and shrubs 
of temperate climates are as well cared for as the tropical 
plants, for whose reception our noble Palm House was erected 
thirteen years ago. Then, and not till then, will the national 
establishment be perfect. A botanical garden is not valuable, 
as was once thought, for the number, mainly, of the species 
which it includes, but for their usefulness and beauty ; they 
should be a selection rather than a collection. The Conserva- 
tory in question would certainly cost a large sum of money, 
but not nearly so much as did the Palm House, which in- 
volved several items not requisite in a structure for hardier 
trees and plants. The price of glass, too, has fallen materially 
since 1844.’ 
f 
