Botanic Gardens

Botanic Gardens, gardens for the cultivation of plants for scientific study, have done much for the advancement of botany. They were originally "physic gardens," devoted mainly to medicinal plants, and either the private property of apothecaries, or connected with the medical schools of universities. The earliest known public botanic garden, that of Padua, was founded in 1533; those of Florence and Pisa, in 1544; Bologna, in 1547; Zurich, in 1560; Paris, in 1570; Leyden, in 1577; Leipsic, in 1579; Upsala, in 1627; Oxford, in 1632; Edinburgh, in 1670; Chelsea, in 1673; and Kew, about 1730. Of late years many fine gardens have been established, especially in the capitals of our British colonies.