2 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 



Mr. Shaw, anticipating that the Garden would require a 

 gradually increasing amount for its maintenance, reserved a 

 strip of land two hundred feet wide around Tower Grove 

 Park and stipulated that the gross income from the leasing of 

 this land for residential purposes should come to the Missouri 

 Botanical Garden. With the exception of a few thousand 

 dollars obtained years ago from market gardeners, no revenue 

 has ever accrued to the Garden from this source. Repeated 

 attempts to obtain an adequate rental from the city for the 

 ground for park purposes have thus far resulted in nothing. 

 More than six years ago the Supreme Court of Missouri ren- 

 dered a decision requiring the city to make leases and turn 

 the revenue received therefrom over to the Trustees of the 

 Garden, but as yet nothing has been obtained from this 

 source. It is unfortunate that, since the Garden now has 

 practically no other means for obtaining the money 'neees- 

 sary to maintain its present standard, the failure to carry 

 out the plan as devised by Mr. Shaw will necessitate a serious 

 curtailment of the activities of the Garden. Important and 

 necessary improvements, including the development of about 

 half the land set apart by Mr. Shaw for Garden purposes, 

 an entrance into the Garden from Kingshighway, and other 

 plans long contemplated, will have to await the final disposi- 

 tion of the two-hundred-foot strip problem. 



Construction of Fence and New Entrance. — In spite of the 

 lack of funds, two fundamental improvements, long contem- 

 plated, were at the beginning of 1920 recognized as being 

 absolutely necessary and accordingly an order from the court 

 was obtained, granting the authority to borrow the money 

 needed. I refer to the construction of a permanent fence 

 around the unfenced portions of the Garden and the recon- 

 struction of the gateway at the main entrance to the Garden. 



Several years ago an iron fence was constructed along that 

 part of the Garden fronting on Magnolia and Alfred Avenues, 

 but the land extending along Shenandoah to Kingshighway 

 and from Kingshighway along Vandeventer and Shaw Ave- 

 nues up to the engineer's house on Shaw Avenue has re- 

 mained practically unfenced. The increasing vandalism and 

 damage done by mischievous boys, due in part to the absence 

 of a fence, made it necessary, if the Garden were to be pre- 

 served intact, that some adequate barrier should be erected 

 along this part of the Garden. Even had it been possible to 

 satisfactorily police this area, the expense involved would 

 have been considerably more than the annual interest on the 



