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25. The Herbaria and Botanical Libraries of the United States, 



IV. — The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, i. The Bo- 

 tanical Library. — If the value of a Library depends more upon the 

 character than the number of the volumes which it contains, and upon 

 its adaptability to the purposes for which it was designed, then the 

 library of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society is one of the finest, 

 if not the finest in the United States. 



As might be expected from the nature of the Society and its work, 



the greater number of its books are devoted to Horticulture and Ag- 

 riculture, departments in which it is unexcelled; but, recognizing the 

 importance of botanical knowledge to the intelligent cultivator, this 

 department has been wisely and generously fostered — many rare and 

 valuable works having been purchased from time to time — until at 

 present full twenty-five per cent, of the whole number of volumes is 

 devoted to Botany. Many works not strictly botanical might be 

 added to the list, increasing the proportion to nearly one-third- Of 

 this latter class are many valuable works of a serai-horticultural and 

 botanical character, on the culture of orchidaceous plants, and which 

 are not included in the present estimate. 



The number of books in the library at the present time exceeds 

 4,000 volumes. As stated by Mr. Manning, in the History of the 

 Society, the number at the close of the year 1878 was 3,400 books 

 and 600 pamphlets, but this number has been since increased by some 

 valuable additions. 



All the current text-books on botany — including some old and 

 rare editions long out of print — are to be found upon the library 

 shelves. The names of Gray, Torrey, Chapman, Bigelow, Beck, 

 Darby, Wood, Eaton, Nuttall, Barton, Balfour, Hooker, Greville, 

 Bentham, Henfrey, Harvey, Berkeley, Thornton, Cooke, Sachs, 

 Thomes, Prantl, Dresser and Bessey are sufficient to indicate the 

 character of this section. 



- Of the more important works may be mentioned: Alph. de Can- 

 dolle's'^Laws of Botanical Nomenclature,' * Prodromus Systematis,' 

 'Collection de Memoires,' etc.; A, Ph. de CandoUe's 'Geographic 

 Botanique'; A. and C. deCandolle's^Monographiae Phanerogamarum*; 

 Linnaeus' ' Systema Plantarum,' 'Species Plantarum,' etc.; Le Maout 

 and Decaisne's * Traite General de Botanique' (Mrs. Hooker's trans- 

 lation;) E. St. Pierre de Germain's ' Dictionnaire de Botanique'; 

 Loudon's 'Hortus Brittanicus ' ; Plumier's ' Plantes de TAmerique '; 

 Draakenstein's ^Hortus Indicus Malabaricus *; Gmelin's ' Flora 

 Siberica ' ; Grisebach's ' Plantae Wrightianae * ; Batsch's ' Genera 

 Plantarum': Robert Brown's ' Flora Novae Hollandiae' (London ed. 

 suppressed by the author); 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linn- 

 ean Society'; Curtis' ' Botanical Magazine'; 'Flora Londinensis * ; 

 Sowerby's ' English Botan}^,' first and second editions, etc., etc., while 

 the names of Braun, Steudel, Koch, Fries, Siebold, Lemaire, 

 L'Heritier, Walpers, Thunberg, Michaux, etc., suggest other works 

 of great importance and value. 



Cryptogamic botany has not been overlooked, and the favor ac- 



corded to fern books, even by those who are not specially interested 

 in the subject of which these treat, is particularly noticeable here, 



