74 
THE FLORISTS JOURNAL. 
sweetest bends of the all fertilizing and enriching Thames. This 
circumstance appears at a very early period to have drawn the 
attention of men fond of nature. 
Thrpe hundred years ago, Kew was the residence of Dr. Turner, 
the herbalist, whose collection of plants was there ; and sub¬ 
sequent residents, all devoted to Botany in some way or other, 
also collected many plants, and planted rare trees, some of which 
yet adorn the Arboretum and the adjoining parts of the pleasure 
grounds ; and when George II. was Prince of Wales, his secre¬ 
tary possessed the mansion, and kept up the style of the garden. 
Soon after this a long lease of it was taken by Frederic, Prince of 
Wales, father to George III.; and, as he was a warm admirer of 
plants, and a great favourite with the liberal party in the country, 
he received many of the plants which the Duke of Argyle had 
collected to Wotton, with so much assiduity and judgment. 
After the demise of the prince, the princess dowager not only 
continued her attention to the gardens, but began the botanical 
garden, which, with the exception, perhaps, of the physic garden 
of the apothecaries at Chelsea, was the first in the kingdom, and 
the only one which has, up to the present moment, been esta¬ 
blished by royal patronage. It is true that this princess was not 
queen ; but her son, George III., was heir apparent, and became 
purchaser of this spot, which had been so much admired by his 
mother. 
About this time, that is, toward the middle of last century, the 
talents and example of Philip Miller, of the Chelsea garden, had 
given a new impulse to the science of plants, and embued young 
and aspiring gardeners with a desire of doing something more 
than growing a cabbage or a cauliflower. High among these 
meritorious young men stood the late William Aiton. To him the 
laying out, furnishing, and attending of the botanical and other 
gardens at Kew were committed ; and the event showed that the 
choice could not have fallen on a better. We cannot say as much 
for the structures designed by Sir William Chambers ; but stones,' 
and bricks, and mortar, and deal boards, and lead, and lifeless and 
lumbering matters of that kind, fortunately lie without our pro¬ 
vince, so that we cannot even criticize them without being guilty 
of invasion. 
The frequent residence of George III. at Kew tended greatly 
to the advantage of the gardens there. We do not mean to say 
