Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/193

Rh palace of the King of Hanover, are probably the largest and most complete in the world. While the research work carried on in the gardens has been principally taxonomic, by the co-operation of the twenty-four gardens of which Kew is the organic head, much of value has been accomplished in the acclimatization of useful plants. There is also located in the garden the Jodrell Laboratory, in which some important results in physiology and morphology have been reached. Its operations, however, are greatly constrained by lack of suitable endowment.

I quote the following explanatory paragraph from a guide to the grounds:

"It may be mentioned that Kew is not only a great educational establishment and pleasure resort, but also the recognized center of the various botanic gardens throughout the empire. The part it has played in the introduction of the cinchona into India, and in fostering various other important industries, is well known. It may be described as the great botanical clearing house of the empire. To it a large number of plants are constantly being forwarded from all parts of the world to be named,



for which purpose a staff of botanists is provided, and the collection of dried plants, or herbarium, as well as the large botanical library, is unrivaled throughout the world. In the same way the collection of cultivated plants and trees, both hardy and exotic, is the most perfect in existence."