108 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



2 GEORGE V., A. 1912 



l.ounded on the south side by the Rideau canal, which, at this point, has marshy banks 

 that take away the sameness which the canal banks have in many places. 



The late Dr. James Fletcher, Entomologist and Botanist of the Dominion Experi- 

 mental Farms, took charge of the Arboretum and Botanic Garden when the first plant- 

 ing was done in the autumn of 1S89 and continued in charge until 1895, when the 

 writer, who was tben the Director's Assistant and Foreman of Forestry, took up the 

 work. The transfer is recorded in the Report of the Entomologist and Botanist for 

 1896, where the following statement is published: 'The practical work of the Arbor- 

 : turn and Botanic Garden, which was done to a large measure under my direction until 

 last spring, was then at my request, handed over to Mr. W. T. Macoun, the Foreman 

 of Forestry, who, having men under his control, was in a better position to look after 

 the necessary labour, such as cultivation, planting, tidying up, etc., than I was with 

 cnly one man. whose time is fully occupied with the grass and fodder experiments. In 

 addition to the above reason, Mr. Macoun is specially well qualified for this work from 

 his natural tastes and knowledge of plants. I had, therefore, very much pleasure in 

 recommending to you that this work should be entrusted to him.' 



In 1898, the writer was appointed Curator of the Arboretum and Botanic Garden 

 by Order-in-Council. 



In the writer's report for 1895, the following statement is made which shows the 

 number of species and varieties which had been set out up to that time. ' During the 

 spring, 246 species and varieties of trees and shrubs were added to the number recorded 

 last year, making the total of 935 living in the autumn of the present year. The 

 perennial flower border was extended in the autumn from the main entrance to the 

 northern gate, and the greater part of this was planted with 735 additional species and 

 varieties, making a total of 863 now in the Arboretum.' In the autumn of 1910 there 

 were living in the Arboretum and Botanic Garden 3,419 species and varieties of trees 

 and shrubs represented by 4,911 specimens and 2,007 species and varieties of herba- 

 ceous perennials. No doubt some of these are synonyms, but the number cannot be 

 very large. This makes one of the most extensive collections of hardy plants in 

 America. It has been brought to its present size by a gradual but regular increase in 

 the collection from year to year, as, by being constantly on the look-out for new things 

 from other institutions, botanic gardens, nurserymen and private individuals, it has 

 been possible to add a considerable number of species and varieties annually. 



The original plan was to arrange the trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in their 

 proper botanical order. This has, to some extent, been adopted, but the large number 

 of species which has been planted has made it practically impossible to keep all plants 

 of one genus in a single group, and in some cases even three separate groups have 

 been made. Furthermore, in many instances, the soil was not suitable where a certain 

 genus would come if kept in the proper sequence, and it was thought better to place 

 the plants in the soil most suited to them, where this could be done. 



The trees and shrubs are, in most cases, planted far enough apart to permit! of 

 their developing into full-sized specimens without being crowded. The herbaceous 

 perennial border is a prominent feature of the Botanic Garden, and is situated on the 

 east and south-east side of an arbor-vitae hedge. It has a total length of nearly 

 half a mile. The border is twelve feet wide and the plants are in rows three by three 

 feet apart. 



Most of the arboretum has been seeded down to lawn grass during the past fifteen 

 years and the grass of a large proportion of the area is kept cut regularly with a pony 

 lawn mower. In order that the trees and shrubs should not be checked in their growth 

 by growing in sod. circles free of sod have been kept cut around them and in this the 

 surface soil is loosened with the hoe during the growing season. 



The specimens in the Arborteum and Botanic Garden have been neatly, though 

 not conspicuously, labelled with a zinc label fastened to a stiff wire which is pushed 

 into the gyound near the specimen. There is a duplicate zinc label fastened to the tree, 



