32 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
seriously affected that it required several years of the most 
eareful attention to bring them back to anything like a normal 
condition. The appearance of many of the plants was as 
though they had been sprayed with a rather strong solution 
of sulphurie acid. 
Owing to the fact that the land surrounding the Garden 
has, within the past ten years, been almost completely occupied 
by small dwellings and apartments, with the consequent 
increase in smoke in the immediate vicinity, it has been mere 
and more difficult to grow plants in the Garden, and the 
necessity for some such move as is indicated above has been 
felt to be imperative. While the primary object of securing 
an additional tract of land at a considerable distance from 
the city would be for the purpose of growing plants to be 
either temporarily shown in the greenhouses or to be estab- 
lished outside for as long as they could survive the smoke, 
it is also hoped that a part of the new land can be devoted 
to the establishment of a real arboretum. Any attempt to 
have a representative collection of trees of the Mississippi 
Valley in the Garden has failed in the past because of the 
impossibility of growing successfully many varieties in the 
city atmosphere. A complete collection of such trees and 
shrubs in the vicinity of St. Louis, together with trees from 
similar climates throughout the world, would be of the 
greatest benefit to students and of much interest and practical 
value to lovers of trees. Incidentally, if the right location 
can be secured it would make possible the preservation of 
many acres of natural forest which might otherwise disappear 
within a comparatively short time. 
Of the 125 acres originally set aside by Mr. Shaw for Garden 
purposes, not more than half has ever been improved and 
opened to the public, the balance having always been used 
as farm or pasture land. With the present income of the 
Garden it would be impossible to make available for public 
use the unimproved portion of the Garden, and experience 
has shown that even were it possible the use of this additional 
area by the public would hardly justify the expense. At the 
present time the North American tract and the old arboretum 
are visited by but few. Seldom more than an hour or two 
is spent by visitors at the Garden, and most of them confine 
themselves to the region near the main entrance and con- 
servatories. The new plan, therefore, does not sacrifice in 
any way any part of the Garden ever known or used by the 
