SECOND ANNUAL BANQUET. 55 
turity. It is only in this way that we can get at any con- 
ception of the proper relations of the plant kingdom. I 
would, therefore, commend to you that movement which I 
believe is starting, that the Garden may be one in which 
this shall be more and more fostered, and that it shall be- 
come a place where we shall have as far as possible a com- 
plete representation of the North American flora. You 
can make no wiser expenditure of means than to advance 
this part of your work; to cultivate here all our northern 
plants so far as possible, and in addition to that, to add to 
the library and to the herbarium materials which, supple- 
menting those growing, will make this a great depository 
of information, a center to which all students of North 
American botany must go. 
I will close by speaking of a use that I have found for 
the Garden already. It has been put upon me to make a 
study of the North American cactuses. I found very 
' speedily that the only place where I could study those 
cactuses was the Shaw Gardens. I found there kept the 
- types, the work of Engelmann; and no student of North 
American cactuses can make a move in that study unless 
he lays his hand upon Doctor Engelmann’s works. I also 
found this advantage there ; that it was not only a place in 
which the material had been stored which had already been 
worked up, but I found a readiness and a willingness to 
receive fresh material that I proposed to send to it from a 
summer’s Government exploration, there to be cultivated 
for me so that the living plants can be studied. It is the 
only place that I can find in this country where those 
plants can be properly cared for and raised to one’s hand, 
and therefore it is with a feeling of appreciation of this 
Garden, an unusual feeling of appreciation, that I speak of 
this circumstance, for I feel that it has made this, which is 
of course a difficult and an extensive work, at all possible. 
I would, therefore, suggest to you that in this line, develop- 
ing the biological side, the side of pure science, of science 
for its own sake, its own dear sake independent of any 
