h gardens at Buitenzorg. It is only natural that a people so
distinguished for horticulture as the Dutch should have turned to
account the floral wealth of the Malay Archipelago, perhaps the richest
botanical hunting-ground in the world. The Buitenzorg gardens, however,
owe their present celebrity more to individual energy than to Government
patronage.

Originally established in 1819, in a corner of the park surrounding the
residence of the Governor-General, the exigencies of colonial finance
subsequently required the withdrawal of almost all the provision
originally made, and only a sum sufficient to support a single European
gardener was left. The salary of this single official was taken from the
funds appropriated to the maintenance of the park. It was to this post
that J. E. Teysmann was appointed in 1830. Educated at one of the
primary schools in Holland, and originally employed as an
under-gardener, he had in that capacity accompanied Governor Van den
Bosch to Java. Like our own Moffat (also an under-gardener), Teysmann
rose by his energy and devotion to "great honour," and, half a century
later, received a remarkable proof of the esteem in which he was held in
the scientific world, consisting of an album, within which were
inscribed the signatures of the donors--one hundred famous naturalists,
ranging from Darwen to Candolle, the Genevan. It bore the inscription--

"_Celeberrimo indefessoque J. E. Teysmann cum dimidium per
saeculum Archipelagi indici thesaurum botanicum exploravit,
mirantes collegae._"

During the period that the gardens ceased to exist as an independent
institution--1830 to 1868--Teysmann continued to search throughout the
islands of the Archipelago for rare and undiscovered plants with which
to enrich them. He also published catalogues embodying the discoveries
he had made, and finally arranged the plants and trees upon an excellent
system, in which they are grouped in accordance with their natural
relationships.

In 1868 the gardens once more became a public institution, with a
curator and a recognized revenue. The new curator was Dr. Scheffer, of
Utrecht, who in 1876 founded, in addition to the botanical gardens, a
school of agriculture with a garden attached to it. This useful
institution was subsequently suppressed by the Government, but the
garden still survives alongside its parent at Buitenzorg. Dr. Scheffer
died in 1880, when only thirty-six years of age. He was succeede