BOTANICAL SCOTLAND YARD

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 140, 9 March 1929, Page 27

BOTANICAL SCOTLAND YARD

INVESTIGATION THAT HAS LASTED 75 YEARS.

One wonders how many visitors to Kew Gardens regard them merely as a pleasant place in which to walk and look on the beauties of the flowers and shrubs as so much embellishment for their own delectation. Probably the vast majority. Comparatively few realise what lies behind all this, and appreciate the main function of the Royal Botanic Gardens, which is to act as headquarters of the botanic research of the Empire, and to deal with many matters connected with agriculture and forestry of vital economic importance (says the “Morning Post”). Something of this is disclosed in a Government publication just issued, which gives a long list of the Government botanists all over the Empire who are in constant communication with Kew. It is a somewhat cryptic document, but it affords at least a hint of the vast system of collaborative research, which has its centre at Kew.

The Director of the Gardens, Dr. A. W. Hill, who is also Botanical Adviser to the Colonial Secretary, has just outlined some of the manifold activities which come within the sphere of himself and his large staff of assistants. He has recently returned from a visit in his official capacity to Australia and New Zealand, and at the present moment members of his staff are touring South Africa, the Bermudas, and other parts of the Empire, seeing

the work that is being done by Tmpwu lai botanists there, and generally keeping In direct personal touch. “One of our functions at Kew," he said, “is to provide a kind of botanical Scotland Yard. I wonder how many people realise that It la part of my duties to find out as much as I can about various synthetic products put on the market” This work, one gathered, had of necessity to be of a secretive nature, and the examination of such products demanded as much Ingenuity on the part of the botanical detectives as any crime investigation. Queries, Dr. Hill continued, were addressed to Kew continually from various parts of the Empire In matters relating to agriculture and forestry, and as they Inevitably had their origin in botany, this was one of the most Important branches of the work of the Gardens.

A great deal of work was done at the behest of the Empire Marketing Board, and although there might seem to be little in common between this purely commercial board and botanical research, the policy of the Board had been conceived on broad lines, and a leading feature Of that policy was the scientific and economic investigation of the resources of the Empire. In such investigaton so far as plant products were concerned, Kew had been continually occupied for nearly sev-enty-five years.

A grant of £4OOO towards the work at Kew was made by the Board last year. The close contact maintained between Kew and the agricultural and botanical departments of the world, Dr. Hill added, had proved of Inestimable value to the Dominions and Colonies in the introduction of new staples and the development of the natural vegetable resources of the Empire.