190 THE PLANT WORLD. 



Only those who have demonstrated their abihty to pursue original 

 investigations are admitted, and these are expected to engage 

 while here in work of that character. ]»kIore than half a hundred 

 such pieces of original investigation have been conducted here in 

 a single year. 



Our Botanical Garden suffers greatly from the want of a 

 larger endowment fund. Its charter provides for the construc- 

 tion and maintenance of its frame work, but back of this lies 

 the necessit}' for supporting its higher life, and for this support 

 we must naturally look to its endowment. The two should keep 

 close pace. The crown of the greater tree demands a greater 

 root system for its support. Our plant has increased wonder- 

 fully in ten years, both in size and in the intensity of its activity, 

 while the endowment has remained stationary. Its increase to 

 the sum of $1,000,000 has been undertaken, and the amount is 

 none too large and can come none too quickly. 



One of the special needs of the Garden, or rather of this part of 

 the country through its garden, is a department of forestry. 

 From an economic point of view, this is by far the most im- 

 portant department of botany at the present time. Our need of 

 increased forest resources is already alarming to every serious 

 political economist. When an attempt is made to provide them, 

 we find that we do not know how ; that every tree must be known 

 separately, and that until this is done practical operations must 

 fail ; and that the acquisition of this necessary knowledge is as 

 slow as the growth of the trees themselves. It is urgently neces- 

 sary that such centers of investigation should be established in 

 numbers. Scarcely anywhere is there an institution that com- 

 bines so man}' advantages for a successful organization of this 

 kind as here. 



Editor'.s Note. — It will be of interest here to speak of the 

 relation of the New York Botanical Garden to public education. 

 Public museums are generally regarded as part of the educational 

 forces of a citv, and teachers of natural science frequently avail 

 themselves of the opportunities oft'ered by visiting the collections 

 with their classes. It is not uncommon to have a special exhibit 



