ANovemLr.hi9o^'}  London  Botanic  Gardens.  529 
through  many  vicissitudes,  until  1 904,  although  having  then  shrunk 
to  an  area  of  twelve  acres.  Between  1 861  and  1 887  the  activities  of  the 
Chiswick  Gardens  suffered  an  almost  total  eclipse,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  Society  was  involved  during  that  period  in  a  scheme  which 
absorbed  all  its  energies  and  crippled  its  finances.  This  scheme, 
fostered  by  the  late  Prince  Consort,  consisted  in  an  agreement  be- 
tween the  Society  and  the  commissioners  of  the  Great  Exhibition 
of  185 1,  by  which  the  management  of  the  gardens  and  conservatory 
at  South  Kensington  was  entrusted  by  the  commissioners  to  the 
Society  on  certain  conditions.  These  conditions  were  not  fulfilled, 
and  in  1887  the  commissioners  appropriated  the  land  for  other  pur- 
poses. This  action  led  to  the  reorganization  of  the  Society  on  its 
former  basis  and  to  the  renewal  of  activities  at  the  Chiswick  Gar- 
dens. For  some  time  past,  however,  these  gardens,  owing  to  their 
limited  size  and  to  excessive  drainage  and  smoke,  had  been  found 
unsuitable  for  the  purpose  which  they  were  designed  to  serve. 
The  need  of  the  Society  for  more  suitable  accommodation  was  met 
in  1903  by  Sir  Thomas  Hanbury,  K.C.V.O.,  who  purchased  60  acres 
of  land  at  Wisley,  in  Surrey,  including  the  celebrated  wild  garden 
of  the  late  G.  F.  Wilson,  F.R.S.  This  property  was  placed  in  trust 
for  the  use  of  the  Society,  so  long  as  it  continued  to  be  used  by  the 
latter  for  the  objects  aimed  at  by  its  founders.  Among  the  promi- 
nent features  that  the  Society  is  introducing  into  its  new  gardens 
we  may  mention  a  collection  of  named  varieties  of  fruit  trees,  a 
series  of  glass  houses  for  experimental  culture,  and  a  representative 
arboretum  and  rose  garden,  while  the  establishment  of  a  physiologi- 
cal laboratory  is  also  contemplated. 
This  description  of  the  gardens  themselves  must  suffice,  but  some 
of  the  salient  features  of  the  work  accomplished  by  the  Society 
prior  to  i860,  in  connection  with  its  gardens,  will  be  touched  upon. 
The  Kew  system  of  sending  plant  collectors  abroad  was  adopted  by 
the  Society  in  18 18,  and  the  plants  sent  home  by  them  helped  to 
form  the  collections  in  the  gardens  at  Chiswick.  Among  these 
emissaries  mention  may  be  made  of  George  Don,  who  was  sent  out 
in  1 82 1  to  the  West  Indies  and  Brazil;  of  Robert  Douglas,  who 
explored  western  North  America  between  1823  an^  1834  and  intro- 
duced many  interesting  ornamental  plants  and  forest  trees ;  and  of 
the  renowned  Robert  Fortune,  who  was  sent  to  China  by  the  Society 
in  1842.    In  1822  Lindley  was  appointed  assistant  garden  secretary 
