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The character, number and sizes of the buildings generally depend 
on financial considerations. In placing the structures intended for 
the visiting public, considerations of convenient access, satisfac- 
tory water supply and the distribution of crowds must be borne 
in mind, in connection with the landscape design. The planting 
should follow, as nearly as possible, a natural treatment, except 
immediately around the larger buildings and at the entrances, 
where considerable formality is desirable for architectural reasons. 
It is especially desirable that as much natural treatment as possi- 
ble should be given to the areas devoted to systematic planting— 
herbaceous grounds, frutecetum, arboretum. The rectilinear ar- 
rangement of plant beds found in most of the older gardens has 
become abhorrent to landscape lovers, and the sequence of families 
desired can usually be quite as well obtained by means of curved- 
margined groups. 
The cultivation of decorative plants, and especially the foster- 
ing of a taste for them, and the bringing of unusual or new species 
to attention and effecting their general introduction, are important 
functions of a botanical garden. For the accurate determination 
of these plants, information concerning their habits and structure, 
and suggestions regarding the conditions of their growth, the 
aesthetic side must rely on the scientific. 
The Scientific or Biologic Element—The important relations of 
the scientific department to the economic and aesthetic have al- 
ready been alluded to. The library, herbarium, museums and 
laboratories are the sources whence exact information regarding 
the name, structure, habits, life-processes and products of plants 
are derived, and they are the more useful as they are the more 
complete and thoroughly equipped. It is practically impossible 
for any one library to have all the literature of botany and related 
sciences; any one herbarium to possess an authentic and complete 
representation of all species of plants, or any one museum to be 
thoroughly illustrative; absolute perfection along these lines caf- 
not be obtained, but the more closely it is approximated the better 
the results. The research work of the scientific department should 
be organized along all lines of botanical inquiry, including tax- — 
onomy, morphology, anatomy, physiology and palaeontology, and 
the laboratories should afford ample opportunities and equipment — 
for their successful prosecution. ae 
