January 30.] THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 263 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
SI w 
Weather near London in 1850. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
Year. 
1) D 
JAlNUA.n.1 dU—5, 18DJ. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R.&S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
aoTn 
King Ciiaiu.es I. martyred, 1019. I 30.302 — 30.1/3 
42—24 
E. 
_ ! 
45 a. 7 
43 a. 4 
6 39 
28 
13 
34 
30 
31 F 
Hilary Term ends. 30.190 — 29.900 
50—40 
S.E. 
0.38 
43 
44 
7 21 
29 
13 
43 
31 
IS 
Barren Strawberry flowers. | 29-799 — 29.715 
55—47 
S.W. 
0.02 
42 
40 
sets. * 
© 
13 
52 
32 
2 Sun 
4 S. aft. Epxp. Pur. Candlemas 29.810 — 29.727 
56—41 
S.W. 
0.01 
40 
48 
0 a. 7 
1 
14 
0 
3.3 
3 M 
Hen sits. [Day. 29-933 —29.821 
57—25 
W. 
- | 
38 
50 
7 11 
2 
14 
7 
34 
4 To 
Gossamer floats. 29.975 — 29.795 
49—36 
S.W. 
37 
52 
8 15 
3 
14 
13 
35 
5 W 
Laurustinus flowers. 1 29.634 — 28.977 
49—39 
S.W. 
0.16 
35 
54 
9 20 
4 
14 
18 
36 
When George III. ascended the throne in 1/60, a new era—a golden 
age—of gardening commenced. We have nothing to do in these pages 
with the consideration of whether he and his first favourite minister, the 
Earl of Hate, were wrong in their politics, and we will rest satisfied here 
with the knowledge that they were good patrons of all the arts and 
sciences connected with the cultivation of the soil. It is true they passed 
the tax upon cider, and that in the apple orchard counties they dressed 
up a figure in Scotch plaid with a blue riband to represent the Earl, and 
this figure was made seemingly to lead an ass royally crowned ; but the 
tax really was no detriment to the cider manufacture, and posterity must 
do justice to the memory of a monarch and a minister who aided more 
than any of their equals in modern days to advance the agriculture and 
gardening of England. Foremost among the measures which aided this 
national benefit was the establishment of Kew Gardens; and the death 
of its first curator, William Aiton, happening on the first of February, 
1793, appropriately leads us to their history in connection with the few 
incidents of his life that require the biographer’s notice. Sir William 
Hooker, the present able curator of those gardens, has published the 
following sketch of their progressive formation : — 
About the middle of the seventeenth century, the spot that now forms 
the Royal Gardens of Kew, together with a residence called Kew House , 
belonged to R. Bennett, Esq., whose daughter and heiress married Lord 
Capel. This nobleman was much addicted to cultivating plants, and is 
said to have introduced several new trees and fruits at Kew, which he had 
brought from France ; among them two Lent is ks, or Mastic Trees , for 
which he paid ^40 (a large sum 200 years ago) to one Versprit, and four 
white-striped and variegated Hollies , costing ^5 each tree. In Macky’s 
Tour through England, published in 1724, mention is made of “ the tine 
seat and excellent gardens, said to produce the best fruit in the kingdom, 
belonging to that great statesman and gardener, Lord Capel.” Kew 
House and grounds then passed into the hands of Mr. Molvneux, who 
was secretary to King George II. (when Prince of Wales' 1 , and who 
married Lady Elizabeth Capel. He was well known as a man of literature 
and an astronomer. With an instrument of Mr. Molyneux’s own con¬ 
struction, and in those very grounds, Dr. Bradley made the valuable 
discoveries relating to the fixed stars, to commemorate which an inscription 
was placed by the late King William IV. on the pedestal of a sun-dial, 
which stands on the identical spot which had been occupied by Dr. Brad¬ 
ley’s telescope, upon the lawn opposite to the present palace. The Prince 
of Wales, who was son to George II., and father to George III., admiring 
the situation of Kew House , took a long lease of it from the Capel family 
about the year 1730, and began the pleasure grounds, containing nearly 
1/0 acres. They were completed by his widow, Augusta, Princess Dow¬ 
ager of Wales, who delighted in superintending the improvements, then 
carried on upon a most extensive scale. At this time Sir W. Chambers 
was employed in decorating the gardens at Kew with temples, &c., an 
account of which he published iu a -large folio work, with many plates 
(dedicated to the Princess Dowager of Wales), under the title of “ Plans, 
Elevations, Sections, and Perspective Views of the Gardens and Buildings 
at Kew, in Surrey, the seat of H.R.H. the Princess Dowager of Wales.” 
The exotic department of this garden was commenced by the same 
princess, and much favoured by the Earl of Bute, about the middle of 
the eighteenth century. Many of the finest foreign trees were con¬ 
tributed by Archibald, Duke of Argyle (styled by Horace Walpole the 
Tree-monger), who sent them from his once richly stored garden at 
Whitton, near Hounslow. We find that iu the year 1759, Mr. W. Aiton, 
a pupil of the celebrated Philip Miller, of the Chelsea Physic Garden, 
was placed in charge of the Botanical Garden at Kew,—a gentleman no 
less distinguished by his private virtues than his knowledge of plants, 
and great skill in cultivating them. His professional abilities quickly 
procured him the notice of the late Sir Joseph Banks, and a friendship 
commenced which subsisted between them for life. About the year 
1789 his Majesty George III. purchased Kew House, which was soon 
afterwards pulled down, and its furniture removed to an older mansion, 
since known by the name of Kew Palace, and once the property of Sir Hugh 
Portman, who is mentioned as “ the rich gentleman who was knighted 
by Queen Elizabeth at Kew.” This small but picturesque red Ijrick 
building, which appears to be of the date of King James, or Charles I., 
was purchased in 1781 for Queen Charlotte, and was long the favourite 
suburban residence of the Royal Family. Her Majesty evinced much 
interest in the increase of the collection of plants ; and justly does the 
late Sir James E. Smith, President of the Linnrean Society, bear testi¬ 
mony to the Queen’s love of Botany, when he says “ that the genus 
Strelitzin (so called by Mr. Aiton) stands on the sure basis of botanical 
knowledge and zeal, few persons having cherished the study of nature 
more ardently, or cultivated it so deeply, as her Majesty.” Under such 
auspices, and aided by the enlightened patronage of Sir Joseph Banks, 
it was only to be exported that the garden of Kew should become 
celebrated all over the world. So early as 1700 , the great or old stove 
was built by Sir William Chambers : it still exists, and must have been a 
remarkable structure for that time of day, being 114 feet long; the 
centre, occupied by the bark stove, is do feet long, 20 feet wide, and 20 
feet high, exclusive of the tan-pit; while the two ends formed dry 
stoves, each 20 feet long, 18 feet wide, and of the same height as the 
middle part. 
In 1761 the noble Orangery was erected also by Sir William Chambers. 
It measures 145 feet in length, its width 30 feet, and its height 25 
feet. In the same year was added the very elegant Temple of the 
Sun, as it is called, of the Corinthian order, and some young trees were 
planted near, which are now grown to be among the most beautiful in 
the garden, particularly an Oriental Plane and a Turkey Oak. Such had 
been the increase of plants, that in the year 1788 a greenhouse was built 
for Cape plants, 110 feet long (which still remains); and another for the 
vegetable productions of New Holland, nearly the same size, was added 
in 1792 . (This has been much improved under the name of the “ Austra¬ 
lian House.”) 
The voyage of Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks round the world ; 
those of Captain Flinders and Mr. Robert Brown ( Botanicorum Princeps ), 
and of Mr. Allen Cunningham to Australia ; the expeditions of Bowie 
and Masson respectively to Brazil and the Cape of Good Hope—all these 
enriched the gardens of Kew with the vegetable productions of the 
southern hemisphere to an extent unparalleled before or since ; besides 
which, other collectors were employed abroad during a long period of 
years in various countries, and the produce of their researches was depo¬ 
sited at Kew. On various occasions, especially during the life of King 
George III., other houses, stoves, and pits were erected, as occasion 
required; but it must be confessed that on the demise of that revered 
monarch, and of Sir Joseph Banks, whom his Majesty so much delighted 
to honour, and who died shortly after the king, the establishment lan¬ 
guished and suffered from want of royal and scientific encouragement. 
During the reigns of George IV. and William IV., with the exception of 
a few plants being transmitted by occasionally employed collectors, and 
one hothouse being erected by the last-mentioned sovereign (and it is 
but right to add that this conservatory is eminently handsome and orna¬ 
mental), the Botanic Garden retrograded rather than flourished ; and 
matters must have been much worse but for the truly parental affection 
cherished towards it by Mr. Aiton, and the able exertions of his foreman 
(now the curator), Mr. John Smith. Throughout the country an opinion 
existed, which soon began to be loudly expressed, that either the Gardens 
should be entirely abolished or placed upon a very different footing, and 
rendered available, as a great scientific establishment, for the advantage 
of the public. Government was, happily, ready to respond to this latter 
feeling; and in 1838 the Lords of her Majesty’s Treasury appointed a 
committee to inquire into the management, condition, &c., of the Royal 
Botanic Gardens. The result was, that in May, 1840, a return was made 
to the House of Commons, in the shape of a report by Dr. Lindley, who, 
at the desire of the committee, had surveyed the Gardens, in conjunction 
with two well-known practical gardeners. It resulted from this in¬ 
vestigation, that the whole of the Gardens, Pleasure Grounds, and Park 
were transferred to the department of the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s 
Woods and Forests. Mr. Aiton (son of the original curator), on the eve 
of the fiftieth anniversary of his holding office, retired from the charge 
of the Botanic Garden ; and the present director received instructions 
from the board to enter upon his important duties in the spring of the 
year 1841, and to prepare, as speedily as possible, a report of those 
alterations which were deemed essential for rendering the gardens useful 
to the public at home and to our colonies abroad. 
Under their present management—embracing as this does the scientific 
attainments of Sir W. Hooker and the high horticultural skill of Mr. 
Smith—the Kew Gardens are elevated to be one not only of the richest 
repositories of plants, but also the grounds where some of the best skill in 
cultivating them is demonstrated. For tenpence any one may go from Lon¬ 
don to Kew in a steamer; and we pledge ourselves that any of our readers 
who will so expend that sum shall be grateful to us for one of the most 
delightful summer’s day excursions he ever profited by. The gardens 
are gratuitously open to the public every day of the week but Sunday, 
and in their walks, glass structures, and museum are collected rarities 
such as can be found in no other establishment of the kingdom. 
William Aiton was born near Hamilton, in Scotland, during the year 
1731 ; and when he started from his native village at the age of twenty- 
three—sanguine as he was, and well stored as he was with good practical 
gardening knowledge—he could not, even in his brightest visions of the 
future, have anticipated the success and the eminence towards which he 
was moving. It would seem that he became gardener to some gentleman 
near London, and that attracting the attention of Mr. Philip Miller, then 
curator of the Chelsea Garden, he readily accepted employment in that 
establishment. This was the foundation of his promotion, for he here 
acquired that sound botanical knowledge without which he must have 
worn the blue apron for life ; and we hold him up to all young gardeners 
as another instance of the varied advantages arising from the combination 
of practice with scieuce. We have seen that in 1759 he was appointed to 
preside over the Kew Gardens, and he obtained this appointment because 
of his great knowledge of plants, united as it was to an acquaintance and 
readiness with the modes of cultivating them. His success iu his new 
office did not disgrace the judgment which had selected him. 
A catalogue of the plants in the exotic garden of Kew was published 
by Dr. Hill in 1768 , and a second edition the following year. A far more 
elaborate and importunt work appeared in 3 vols. 8vo., accompanied by 
some admirable plates—the Hortus Kewensis of William Aiton, in 1789» 
giving an account of the several foreign plants which had been intro¬ 
duced into the English gardens at different times, amounting to 5,600 in 
number; and so much was it esteemed, that the whole impression was 
sold off within two years. Mr. Aiton did not long survive this publi¬ 
cation, for he died in 1793, in the sixty-third year of his age, and lies 
I 
No. cxxri, Vol. V. 
