BOTANICAL GARDEN AT BUITENZORG, JAVA. 589 



eventually covers a great area. A whole avenue of such trees is to be 

 seen at Buitenzorg. The trees are the ' waringen/ a sort of banyan, 

 and the avenue is called the ' Waringen Alle.' Other trees, such as the 

 India rubber plant, have the same habit of putting forth aerial roots 

 which grow down and penetrate the soil and eventually cause a wide 

 spreading of the tree. 



A short magazine article can not bring the reader very close to 

 tropical plant life as shown in the Buitenzorg garden, but the illustra- 

 tions may help to make clear some of the features I have mentioned. 

 It must be understood that the gardens are maintained primarily for 

 scientific purposes and that there are countless objects, interesting to 

 the botanist, the enumeration of which would be wearisome to the gen- 

 eral reader. 



It is the wish of the director of the gardens that botanists from all 

 countries should make use of the garden for study. At his suggestion 

 the government erected some years ago a commodious laboratory for 

 the exclusive use of visiting men of science. Naturally enough, since 

 Java is a Dutch dependency, most of the visitors thus far have come 

 from Holland, but many Germans have also been there. Almost no 

 Americans have studied in Buitenzorg. This is the more strange, 

 since our botanists are accustomed to travel long distances and many 

 have worked in Europe. With the increased importance of the tropics 

 which has come in recent years, there should be a greater interest de- 

 veloped in the study of tropical life. It is much to be desired that our 

 own botanists make use of this and other tropical gardens in order that 

 we may not remain behind other nations in this important branch of 

 natural science. 



Market place in Buitenzorg. 



