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at hap-hazard from one species to another, from one genus to another, 

 without being advised of their affinities by classification and the view 

 of numerous specimens, such as are to be found in a Herbarium. 

 They can themselves testify, how much more considerable an amount 

 of work has been done in the Herbarium than in the Gardens, and 

 that, too, in regard to microscopic organs, such as pollen, ovules, em- 

 bryos, archegonia or spores. Without Herbaria we should not have 

 had, at this moment, either good general treatises or good floras ; and 

 published descriptions w^ould have been without material evidences, 

 just as are those in the works of Rumphius and Plumier, skilful 

 naturalists though they were. It Avould have been just as it is with a 

 good many of the observations made with the microscope : the ele- 

 ments for such observations, obtained by some happy section, have 



ceased to exist. 



The indifference of public administrative bpdies in regard to Her- 

 baria is as extraordinary as is that of anatomists and physiologists, 

 when we consider how small is the- cost of collections of this nature, 

 as compared with that of Gardens, .This comparison has never been 

 been made, and it is worth while to say a few words on the subject. ^ 



Leaving out of view the cost of ground and buildings, which is 

 however insignificant for a Herbarium, but considerable for a Botan- 

 ical Garden, let us look merely at the relative expense of keeping up 

 the two kinds of collections. ' An extensive private Herbarium costs 

 on an average only 3,000 or 4,000 francs a year for purchase of plants, 

 paper and other materials, and for the salary of a custodian employed 

 during a portion of the day. A public Herbarium of corresponding 

 importance, more completely accessible to botanists, and consequently 

 having more employe,, and directed by a professor, a portion of 

 whose salary should be charged, costs or ought to cost say 10,000 francs 

 per annum. The great majority of public Herbaria do not cost so 

 much; and this may be perceived from their pitiable condition. 

 There are perhaps not ten public Herbaria in the world with resour- 

 ces sufficient for a proper increase, and for a good arrangement of 

 what they have. Perhaps all the public Herbaria of the five parts of 

 the world do not cost altogether in their present condition more than 

 200,000 francs a year. And yet it is with this that nine-tenths of all 

 the good work in descriptive botany has been done, and horticul- 

 turists, anatomists and physiologists have been furnished with the 

 means of knowing the exact names of plants, and of making those 

 researches, for which exsiccatae are particularly suited. 



A Botanical Garden of moderate size costs not less than 4-5,000 

 francs a year. Many others take 10-15,000 francs, and the extensive 

 Gardens, which may be compared with the grand Herbaria, expend 

 as much as 60-80 or 100,000 francs annually. Take a list of the 

 one hundred most important Botanical Gardens, beginning with those 

 of Kew, Paris, Buitenzorg, Calcutta. St. Petersburg, &c., then those 

 attached to universities, and finally others in places without univer- 

 sities, the average annual expense would be at least 15,000 francs for 

 each establishment, or one and a half million francs for the hundred 

 Gardens. The total number of these Gardens being greater than one 



