The main entrance to Kew Gardens, officially known as the Royal Botanic Gardens, is at the west end of Kew Green. The other entrances are Cumberland Gate, Victoria Gate (from Kew Gardens Station), and Lion Gate (nearest Richmond), all in Kew Road, and Brentford Ferry Gate and Isleworth Ferry Gate, on the tow-path. The gardens are open daily from 10 a. m. in summer till sunset or 8 p. m. (admission 1d., Tuesday and Friday 6d.; camera-fee 3d.). The glass-houses are not open as a rule before 12 or 1 o'clock. There is a cycle-shed at the main entrance (2d.). Picking even wild flowers, smoking inside the glass-houses and museums, and picnicking in the gardens are forbidden. Kew Gardens are rich in bird life; many of the migrant warblers may be heard there, besides robins, wrens, thrushes, and blackbirds.
Kew Gardens, now 288 acres in area, with 24, 000 different species and varieties of plants, systematically arranged, are the finest and most famous botanical gardens in the world. Among the great services which they have rendered to civilization is the introduction of the breadfruit tree to the West Indies in 1791, of quinine to India in 1860, and of rubber to the Malay Peninsula in 1875. The gardens are composed of two properties, the grounds of Richmond Lodge and those of Kew House, which were thrown into one about 1785. It was in the latter that the present botanical gardens found their inception. In the latter part of the 17th century Lord Capel had a fine garden here, with many foreign trees, described in Evelyn's Diary; but the real founder of Kew Gardens was Princess Augusta, mother of George III., who began the formation of an exotic garden in 1759-60, with William Alton as her head gardener. The pagoda and the small temples scattered about the grounds were designed by Sir William Chambers in 1760-62. From 1772 to 1819 the gardens were under the care of Sir Joseph Banks. William Cobbett was employed as a gardener here about 1775. Sir William Hooker was appointed director in 1841; he was succeeded by his son Sir Joseph Hooker (1865-85). The present director is Dr. A. W. Hill.
There were two royal residences at Kew, both of modest size. Kew House, the more important, pulled down in 1803, was occupied by Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his wife Augusta of Saxe-Coburg from 1731 to 1751. Their son George III. and his wife Queen Charlotte spent a great deal of their time at Kew House, and their simple life cere is described in Fanny Burney's Diary. The adjoining Dutch House, as the present 'Kew Palace' was called, was occupied at this time by the Prince of Wales, later George IV., and it was at Kew that he formed his liaison with 'Perdita' Robinson. During his attacks of insanity George III. resided at first in Kew House and later in the Dutch House. In June 1818 the latter witnessed the weddings of three sons of George III., the Dukes of Cambridge, Clarence, and Kent, who were all hastily married in the same month in order to strengthen the succession. Queen Charlotte died at the Dutch House on November 17th of the same year.
