40 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



Therefore to-night I can say to you frankly and without 

 reserve that after two days spent in a very close and 

 critical examination of the Garden and its attached estab- 

 lishments, and after having listened to the well-matured 

 plans of the Director, I can have no hesitation about saying 

 that we mav congratulate vou to the fullest extent nnon 



Grav. and 



the rapid and symmetric 

 call the Shaw Institution. 



may 



than the players. Now 



more 01 the game 



may I 



what 



seen, and to make a very few suggestions, which I trust 

 may not seem, in any proper sense, officious or ill-timed? 

 In the first place, you have here an establishment which 

 occupies a unique position. I know of none like it in the 



world. 



income 



its plans are very far-reaching, but it is because it is the 

 gift of a private citizen to the world. You may have 

 thought of the Shaw Garden as a St. Louis park, but the 

 influence of this Garden is not limited to your city, it is 



confined to your State 



It 



progresses 



Gray and George Engel 



mann 



its power felt profoundly for good, throughout the world. 

 It seems to me not inappropriate to occupy the short 

 time which has been assigned me in saying a few words in 

 regard to the utilitarian aspects of the Shaw Bequest. We 

 can understand one another better, if first of all we bring 

 to our attention what Botany is. It is not an elementary 



m 



ted 



answer every reasonable question regarding plants ; and it 

 was in this sense that Henry Shaw, George Engelmann, 

 and Asa Gray understood it. 



Now what are the aspects in which we look at plants, 

 and what questions can we ask ? You will say at once that 



