THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GAh'PhW 



20' 



tion of living plants has increased from a scant 2,000 to 10,000 species 

 or varieties; the decorative features have each year grown in variety 

 and attractiveness; the library has increased from less than 1,000 

 volumes to over 36,000 books and pamphlets; the herbarium has in- 

 creased from a little over 60,000 sheets of specimens to about 400,000 

 sheets; a course of instruction for garden pupils has been put in opera- 

 tion, which has trained a number of the best of the young men now 



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engaged in horticulture in the broad sense in the country; the 

 school of botany, though it has not had many students, has given 

 botanical instruction to such o f 

 the undergraduates of Wash- 

 ington University as wished to 

 take up this study, either as 

 pure botany or in connection 

 with medicine or engineering, 

 and has prepared for the Doc- 

 tor's degree in the university 

 several candidates whose theses 

 have reflected credit on the in- 

 stitution as well as on them- 

 selves; and, during the laying 

 of what must be conceded as a 

 solid foundation for the more 

 rapid development and greater 

 productiveness of the next 

 period of the garden's history, 

 time has been found by the 

 garden staff for the perform- 

 ance of sufficient research 

 work in various departments 

 of botany and horticulture to 

 have caused its recognition as 

 an establishment for this pur- 

 pose. 



During the laying of the 

 foundation for the greater 

 productiveness of the garden, sight has not been lost for a moment of 

 the desirability of maintaining it as an attractive resort for the lovers 

 of the beautiful, and it may be said that considerably over 100,000 per- 

 sons visited it last year some 43,000 on the two open Sundays. As is 

 always the case in large places, detail is often lost in mass effect, or the 

 seeker after detail sees nothing of broad treatment ; and in the adminis- 

 tration of the institution there is not a day which does not bring to the 

 director more dissatisfaction with either general effect or detail than is 



A Specimen Plant Martinezia earyotcefolia- 



