GARDENS PUBLIC AND BOTANICAL 
There is an interesting link between the Botanical 
Garden of Missouri and Kew. This magnificent 
western garden was the gift of Henry Shaw, an Eng¬ 
lishman from Sheffield, son of a cutler and iron-worker 
who came to America to push his fortunes. The boy 
soon started out on his own account, with a small stock 
of merchandise, and after visiting various cities, finally 
settled in St. Louis, then, 1819, no more than a small 
French trading-post. Here he prospered exceedingly, 
and in twenty years had made a fortune equivalent to a 
million nowadays. Upon this he retired. 
A cool-headed, cool-hearted man, with neither wife 
nor intimate friend, he spent some time traveling about 
Europe and England. Finally, at Chatsworth, where 
Mary, Queen of Scots, was for so long a prisoner, the 
beautiful gardens inspired him with the desire of him¬ 
self creating a garden. He returned to St. Louis, and 
spent the remainder of his life and the greater part of 
his fortune in the delightful labor. He soon got into 
communication with Sir W. J. Hooker, of Kew, and 
received from him the most enthusiastic assistance and 
advice; for Hooker not only greatly improved his own 
charge, but was constantly on the alert to do whatever 
lay in his power for others, and this garden enterprise 
in the New World touched him closely. 
Shaw left the gardens to the State on his death, and 
they have been carried on with the best results of 
beauty and of scientific use. 
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