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EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 43 
tended to the Garden staff by the principal other botanical institutions of 
the country). This acquisition of research facilities is, nevertheless, a 
thing which must continue for many years before the Garden is ade- 
quately equipped for the performance of such work as the Garden staff and 
visiting botanists should here find the opportunity for doing, and it is 
proposed, as rapidly as money can be spared for this purpose, to further 
extend both library and herbarium. The latter must also gradually be 
amplified by the provision of material which is too bulky, or otherwise 
unsuitable for incorporation in the herbarium proper, leading logically 
to the formation of a museum; and this research museum must, in part, 
also be arranged so as to become educational. 
Mr. Shaw, many years ago, as the Board will remember, erected a 
building which he called a library and museum building, in which he 
maintained a collection of botanical and zoological material. At the 
time when the Board was organized, however, this had become so badly 
deteriorated that it was no longer a creditable display, and with the con- 
sent of the Garden Committee the museum was closed to the public. 
The limited room available for the work of the Garden staff and the 
storage of necessary but unattractive museum material, such as wood sec- 
tions, etc., coupled with the limited sum which could be spared each year 
for Garden purposes, has compelled me, up to the present time, to keep 
the museum closed; but in the near future, the provision of an attractive 
educational museum must receive serious consideration, and it has been 
given frequent thought during the past six years. Yet it does not seem 
to me that it is as necessary immediately as the extension of the grounds 
which has been sketched above, and it is further very seriously complica- 
ted by the small size and entire inadaptability of the present building to 
the proper display of a museum collection. Still, I think that whenever 
the material which is now in the room can be stored accessibly for pre- 
servation elsewhere, a small synopsis of the entire vegetable kingdom, 
representing by models, drawings and specimens especially the lower 
groups of plants, which cannot be displayed in the grounds and green- 
houses, can be arranged in the present room. 
To provide for the extension of the library, herbarium and museum, 
it is obvious that much more ample buildings than those now on the 
grounds must ultimately be erected. These it is proposed to cluster 
about the building now used for the herbarium, in contiguity to that 
building and to Tower Grove Avenue, so that they will all be conveniently 
accessible, and in the apportionment of the ground for other purposes 
allowance has been made for this; and it has been hoped that without 
interfering with the other plans mentioned above, the proposed synop- 
tical museum could be arranged within two or three years, at a cost of 
perhaps $3,000.00, while in about four years the funds of the Board might 
permit of a fire-proofed extension of the library building, costing approxi- 
mately $15,000.00. 
With the growth of the grounds, library, herbarium and museum, it 
will become necessary to somewhat amplify the very simple present 
organization of the office staff. At present this consists of the Director, 
