
          Royal Gardens Kew

THE COMMISSIONERS of HER MAJESTY’S WOODS, FORESTS, &c. [etc.], having been pleased to form
a BOTANICAL MUSEUM within the Royal Gardens of Kew, the Director solicits the co-operation of Her Majesty’s
Ministers and Consuls in Foreign Countries, of the Governors of Her Majesty’s Colonies, of Officers in the Army
and Navy, Merchants and Travellers generally, to aid in contributing specimens towards so desirable an object.

The design is to bring together in one spot and to exhibit such interesting vegetable products from all parts
of the world, as cannot be shown in the living plants of a Garden, nor in the preserved ones of an Herbarium.
The public may indeed see here, in a growing state, the rare Lace Tree of Jamaica, the still rarer Ivory Palm-Nut
of the Magdalena, the Bread Fruit Tree from the Friendly Islands, and the Cow Tree (Palo de Vaca) from the
Caraccas, together with a multitude of other plants of equal rarity and value. But the interest of these would be
greatly enhanced, if, within the walls of the same Establishment, the curious and beautiful Lace of the first, the fruit
and ivory-like seeds of the second, and the celebrated bread-fruit of the third, with the cream-like substance of the 
fourth, used as nourishment by the Indians, could be inspected.

Among the objects, therefore, which are to be collected and deposited, arranged and named in the Museum, are—

1.—FRUITS and SEEDS, especially those which are large size, or possess any peculiarity of form or
structure, entitling them to notice; such as Pine-cones, the various fruits of Palms, &c. [etc.] &c. [etc.] Many of these are
naturally dry and require little care (except to be freed from moisture) previous to packing. Those that are about
to burst open into valves, or to separate by their scales (all Pine-cones and Araucarias) should be bound round
with a little pack-thread. The soft and fleshy kinds can only be preserved in wide-mouthed bottles, or jars, or
casks, (according to size,) in alcohol, as rum, arrack, or in diluted pyroligneous acid.

2.—FLOWERS which are very large or peculiarly flesh, and therefore unsuited to the Hortus siccus. These
ought to be preserved in alcohol or pyroligneous acid. Among those which would be much prized are, for example,
the flowers of the Victoria, or Gigantic Water Lily, from the still waters of tropical South America; portions of the 
flowering branches of Palms, &c. [etc.], the larger kinds of Orchidaceæ.
        