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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



March 23. 1918. 



Then came the Renaissance with its great revival 

 and widespread interest in science of every kind, not 

 least in that of botany. With a real growth in tlie 

 knowledge of plants and their uses, there grew up also a 

 great ninnber of ridiculous or superstitious beliefs about 

 plants, which accurate investigation and experinieni 

 have entirely dispelled 'J'hen were founded the physic 

 gardens attacheil to the medical faculties of the uni- 

 versities, one of which, at I'adua, founded in 1345, 

 still exists in very nearly its original plan in the same 

 place. These physic gardens gave students of medi- 

 cine an opportunity of studying the plants from which 

 they compounded th.ir drugs, and were also a source 

 from which tli-y might obtain such plants in their 

 future practice. 



Very soon after the founding of the gardens at 

 Padua there wore introduced into them plants other 

 than those of merely medicinal value. This was 

 doubtless due to the rivival of interest in plants them- 

 selves, and the desire for collecting them from other 

 lands, which seem to have been awakened in the 

 middle of the sixteenth century by the then recent 

 geographical discoveries. 



From this time onwards there appears to have been 

 a kind of rivalry between the various gardens as to which 

 could grow the greatest number of plants collected from 

 all parts of the world. Along with the interest aroused 

 in the collection and cultivation of all kinds of plants, 

 there was also displayt d groat interest in the descrip- 

 tion and illustration of them. Not to speak of many 

 .such hcrbals published on the Continent, there are the 

 famous ones of <!erard, and Tradescant, and Parkinson 

 in Enf'land, the authors of which must not only have 

 been most successful gai'deners, but must also have 

 been very patient and exact observers. 



Thus w(! come to ihe foundation in the s<ven- 

 teenth century of gardens by privateer municipal bene- 

 factions for tt^e purpose of allowing the public to observe 

 and study plant life This leads us to the establish- 

 ijieiit of the greatost of all botanic gardens, the l^oyal 

 IJotanic ( !arden at Kew, in the eighteenth century, 

 and its like in many cities of Europe, and their 

 descendants or copies all over th<' civili.scd wmld. 



The tirst botanical garden in the tropics seems 

 to' hav<' bc'in that of the island of St. Vincent 

 founded by ihf IJiitish Government in ]7()4. 

 But the iii.'>gtiificcnt gardens at Huitenzorg in 

 Java, at Ca'cnrta. and at Peradeniya in Ceylon, 

 together with that at Hio de Janeiro are striking 

 examples of il • benefits .such gardens confer upon 



the countries in which they are situated, by the 

 introduction of new crops, such as cinchona in India 

 and rubber in Ceylon. 



We have seen that botanic garilens, in their origin, 

 were based on utility. This is perhaps the best- 

 distinetKin that can be made between their function 

 and that of the public garden or park, where plants 

 are grown primarily for purposes of ornament or shade. 

 The essential difference is apt to become blurred^ 

 especially in the case of botanic gardens situated near 

 to towns, and needs to be re-emphasized from time to 

 tinio. There is no reason why botanic -gardens cannot 

 or shotdd not be ornamental, but this should be 

 strictly subsidiary to their main purpose. 



What then are the proper functions of a botanic 

 warden, large or small, in the neighbourhood of a great 

 citv,or in a small tropical island!' First there is the 

 scientiKc function. New plants are introdtieed from 

 other climates and other lands, and these are grown 

 and studied so as to discover whether they are 

 capable of adaptation to their new surroundings, and 

 whether they are likely to be of value, economic 

 or .-esthetic. 



Second only perhaps to plant introduction 

 should be the maintenance, so far as it is possible, of 

 a representative collection of the more interesting and 

 useful plants of the surrounding country, and especially 

 of species allied to those in cultivation. The latter 

 are of great interest to the taxonomist, to th(> plant 

 breeder, and to the pathologist, because of the 

 likenesses and differences they exhibit in comparison 

 with the species grown for use. In a cotton-growing 

 island, for example, nothing could be more appropriate 

 or more useful, so far as botanic gardens go, than 

 a representative collection of the native cottons, many 

 t\ pes of which are in process of extermination owing to 

 increasing strictness regarding close seasons. With 

 them, it is quite conceivable, may be lost characters or 

 <|ualities which would some day prove highly valuable. 



Again, botanic gardens afford botanical students 

 opportunity for research in plant biology and pathology. 

 One can hardly place a limit to the benefits that 

 agriculture and horticulture have derived and may 

 <lerive from rescaiciies in this direction. Our moder.v. 

 science of genetics, for instance, is derived froii ^he~ 

 studies of Mendil in a monastery garden in the last 

 century. P'y work on the lines indicated by his dis- 

 covery, races of u.seful plants are being multiplied and 

 mo'lified so as to be more exactly suited to the variable 

 conditions in which economic plants are grown, and 



