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EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 39 
few of the more representative speoies of each which are capable of suc- 
cessful growth in the climate of St. Louis; but the object should be to 
avoid the introduction of any exotic species, as well as of too large a 
number of species native to this country. 
The remainder of the present pasture, comprising some 62 acres, 
should at a subsequent period be planted to represent the flora of the 
world, so far as this is capable of open air cultivation in our climate, 
also planted for the greatest possible landscape effect, but, like the 
smaller tract, synoptically arranged. 
Two principal ideas are now prevalent as to the natural affinities of 
plants: that exemplified in Bentham and Hooker’s “ Genera Plantarum,’’ 
representing in the main the views of botanists like Jussieu, the DeCan- 
dolles, and Asa Gray, as well as the authors of the work cited; and that 
exemplified in the “‘ Pflanzenfamilien,’? now in course of publication by 
Engler and Prantl. The former is the one most familiar to English, 
French and American botanists, and for this reason should be followed 
in the smaller plantation, devoted to the flora of the United States. The 
sequence of orders in the Engler and Prantl system, however, which is very 
different from that of Bentham and Hooker, should prevail in the planting 
of the general synopsis in the larger tract, inasmuch as it represents more 
closely than the other the phylogeny of the different groups of plants. 
In arranging for the planting of these two tracts, which, from the 
nature of the planting, should be sufficiently distinct one from the other, 
and yet should merge into each other as a single piece of artistic land- 
scape work, provision must also be made for the stables, compost grounds, 
and small nursery, necessary for the maintenance of a large garden, and 
also for certain small synoptical collections which may be called transient 
synopses, since they need not all be maintained at any given time, one 
giving place to another after a certain period of years. Such collections 
would represent medicinal plants, fiber plants, foliage and other eco- 
nomic plants, synopses of the botany of certain literary works, and of the 
various interrelations between plants and animals,— such, for instance, 
as a collection illustrating pollination of flowers, dissemination of seeds, 
climbing plants, carnivorous plants, the sleep of plants, etc., etc. These 
reservations, which must be centrally located, can be made very well in 
the vicinity of the present farm house, the synopses extending from this 
point to the southern apex of the arboretum, the two, properly screened 
by planting, forming a natural limitation between the synopsis of the 
American flora and the larger general synopsis, for which there will be 
left free about 60 acres. 
For investigation, aside from the great amount of material which will 
be found in the plant houses and the grounds, as outlined above, special 
small groups must be planted from time to time, both in the open air and 
under glass. For these, which will of necessity be small, ample provis- 
ion can always be made in the present garden, the fruticetum and 
vegetable garden, and the annexed greenhouses, without interference 
with either the object or the effect of these parts of the grounds. 
Ultimately, however, as the revenue of the Garden increases, and the 
