Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/118

108 worry on till better times. In 1844 Sir William took the first important step of his administration by petitioning for a grant of the Royal Fruit House, which he offered to fill with his private collection of plant products. It was allowed in 1847, and thus the Museum of Economic Botany had its origin. This branch of the establishment now occupies three buildings. Every tree and plant which is known to serve a useful purpose is represented there, with illustrations of the manner of its employment, if possible. While the collection is very popular with the holiday visitor who comes only to be entertained, any one can understand its serious value to an ingenious and thoughtful mechanic or manufacturer. The Museum of Timber is largely used already. Cabinet-makers and furniture manufacturers quite recognize by this time what a store of hints for their craft is garnered here. The utility of the economic section, moreover, is by no means confined to the inhabitants of the British Isles. From every quarter of the globe samples of new products are sent for examination and report. So long ago as 1815 an Herbarium and Botanical Library had been projected at Kew. George III, doubtless persuaded by Sir Joseph Banks, even raised a building for the purpose. After Sir Joseph's death, however, the scheme lapsed, and the building was granted to the King of Hanover. On his decease, Sir William Hooker urged the fulfillment of the old design, and his petition was granted when Mr. Bentham and Dr. Bromfield bequeathed their collections to the nation. The Herbarium of Kew is the largest in the world, and by far the most useful, because it is also most admirably arranged. The number of specimens in it is not on record. At Sir William Hooker's death, twenty-four years ago a rough estimate made the number a million, exclusive of duplicates. The written catalogue fills two gigantic volumes, and has to be continually posted up, for the collection increases by twenty thousand or so yearly. The dried plants in their portfolios stand in cases, and all are arranged upon the system of Sir Joseph Hooker's great work, the Genera Plantarum. The student has only to give the number attached to any genus in that book, and the case is unlocked and the portfolio laid before him in a moment. There are no formalities to check the young scholar here. He has but to present his credentials to Prof. Oliver, keeper of the herbarium, sign his name, and get to work. There are interesting features at every step of this noble collection, fascinating bits of history connected with every group of cases which bears the name of some distinguished botanist, the fruits of whose lifelong labor are stored here. Of all these, perhaps the herbarium of Dr. Lindley is the most attractive. It occupies only four small cabinets, but the contents will surpass the visitor's utmost expectations. On the lower floor is preparing the catalogue of all plants