RELATIONS OF BOTANY TO AGRICULTURE. 441 



of good vegetables, fruits and flowers, for the farmer's family 

 especially, and the consequent importance of educating the stu- 

 dents at the College as thoroughly as possible in these matters, 

 might be enlarged upon with great propriety. 



Finally, a description of some of the famous gardens of Europe, 

 such as those at London, Paris and Berlin, would be very enter- 

 taining, and show what may be accomplished in this direction with 

 ample means and talent of the first order, while it would also 

 demonstrate the comparative moderation and economy of the plan 

 now proposed for adoption. 



Thus the council having in charge the Jar din des Planles have 

 recently recommended the erection of conservatories, to cost four 

 hundred thousand dollars, to replace those destroyed in the late 

 siege. The magnificent palm-house at Kew is built of iron and 

 glass, and is three hundred and sixty-two feet long, and the main 

 portion is one hundred feet wide and sixty-six feet high, with a 

 gallery thirty feet in height, from which the visitor may look 

 down upon a most superb variety of tropical vegetation. These 

 gardens now contain the largest and best arranged collection of 

 living plants in the world, as well as the most complete herbarium 

 and botanical museum. Nothing could show the utility of such 

 institutions more conclusively than the history of Kew Gardens 

 during the past thirty years. The estimation in which they are 

 held by the public is shown by the fact that they were visited in 

 1871 by five hundred and seventy-seven thousand persons. While 

 many expensive features of these large gardens near the great 

 capitals of Europe are neither possible nor desirable at Amherst, 

 yet the facilities which have been enumerated for the study of 

 Botany in its various departments and applications are absolutely 

 essential, if the State College for farmers is to maintain a high 

 position as a school of science and to be eminently efficient in the 

 advancement of agriculture and horticulture. The appropriate 

 work to be executed there is grand enough to satisfy the ambition 

 of the most gifted botanist, or the most wealthy and liberal patron 

 of learning. ■ As the field is all ready for occupation, and trees 

 grow while men sleep, it is fervently to be hoped the planting may 

 speedily begin. 



The possible and unforeseen advantages to be derived from 

 cultivating together representative forms of vegetation from 

 different countries, and so imparting to beholders some conception 

 of the variety and magnificence of the flowers and foliage with 



