Workers Collection

Cochineal beetle harvest, by Eadweard Muybridge
Dactylopius coccus, cochineal beetles being harvested from Opuntia cacti, Antigua, West Indies, for the production of carminic acid used in the carmine dye, cochineal

Women gardeners put on their clogs ready for work, World War II
Women gardeners were employed at Kew during World War II, after an interval of nearly a quarter of a century. Fourteen women were enrolled onto the staff in 1940

Women gardeners, The Rock Garden, RBG Kew, World War II
Women gardeners were again employed at Kew during World War II, after an interval of nearly a quarter of a century. Fourteen women were enrolled onto the staff in 1940

Female gardener working in the orchid house, during World War II
Female gardener working in the orchid house, RBG Kew, during World War II

Felled tree for Kew Flagstaff, British Columbia, 1914
British COlumbia 1914: The felled tree which was to form the great flagstaff at RBG Kew from 1919 to 1959. Made from a Douglas fir

Japanese hemp production circa 1910. This image came to Kew from the Japan-British exhibition of 1910, which was held to encourage Japanese-British relations

Preparing cinnamon quills for drying, Sri lanka, 1880 s
Preparing cinnamon quills for drying, Sri Lanka, 1880 s. Once the inner bark has been cleaned, the quills are placed one inside another to form quills 1metre long, which are then dried on racks

Coffee harvest at Batu Cave Estate, Singapore, 1899

Preparing cinnamon, Sri Lanka, 1880 s. The cinnamon is contained in the inner bark of the tree. Once the shoots have been harvested the outer bark is peeled off by rubbing with a brass rod or blunt

Bringing in the plucked tea leaves in India. Workers with baskets of tea leaves ready to be processed for export

Tea plantation, Far East
Terraces of a tea plantation in the Far East, showing Camellia sinensis var sinensis, used to produce Chinese and green tea. Women harvest the tea leaves, a process known as " plucking"

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