GARDENS PUBLIC AND BOTANICAL 
society to this effect: “ Chelsea Physick Garden has 
great variety of plants both in and out of greenhouses : 
their perennial green hedges, and rows of different 
coloured herbs are very pretty; so are the banks set 
with shades of herbs in Irish stitch-way.” 
In 1820, Henry Field, a member of the society, pub¬ 
lished a delightful account of them. They continue in 
excellent condition, and are the only gardens belonging 
to a society that have been kept up for so long a space 
of time. 
The finest botanical gardens in the world are those 
at Kew. Their history is not uninteresting. They 
first come into notice about the middle of the seven¬ 
teenth century as the property of a Mr. Bennett, whose 
daughter married a Lord Capet, taking the estates with 
her. Later on, the astronomer Molyneux married 
. Elizabeth Capet, and the place passed to him. He was 
secretary to the Prince of Wales, later George II, 
whose son, Frederick, father of George III, took a 
great fancy to Kew, finally leasing it from the Capet 
family for a long period. He immediately began to 
improve the grounds, which contained some two hun¬ 
dred and seventy acres of a charmingly diversified 
character. After his death his widow, Princess Augusta, 
continued this work with enthusiasm, commissioning 
Sir William Chambers to build temples, summer¬ 
houses, and gates that still delight the eye. She also 
commenced the exotic department, to which donations 
