VALUE OF BOTANICAL IvNOWLEDGE. 73 



of knowing what each cultivated plant takes from the soil and 

 ■what it requires for its best development ; and the necessity 

 of understanding the relative value of the different grasses 

 and other kinds of fodder for his' special purposes. 



The exceeding value of botanical knowledge to those who 

 attempt the cultivation of ornamental plants, either indoors 

 or out, both in enabling them to select the best species for 

 their peculiar circumstances, and to obtain desired results, 

 misfht easilv be made evident. There is now an immense 

 Avaste of money, la])or and love in consequence of misdirected 

 effort in floriculture. The pleasures and profits to be derived 

 from the intelligent cultivation of good vegetables, fruits and 

 flowers, for the farmer's family especially, and the consequent 

 importtince of educating the students at the College as 

 thoroughly as possible in these matters, might be enlarged 

 upon "with great i^-ojiriety. 



Finally, a description of some of the famous gardens of 

 Europe, such as those at London, Paris and Berlin, would be 

 very entertaining, and show what may be accomplished in this 

 direction with ample means and talent of the first order, 

 while it would also demonstrate the the comparative modera- 

 tion and economy of the plan now proposed for adoption. 



Thus the council having; in charfje the Jardin des Plantes 

 have recently recommended the erection of conservatories, to 

 cost four hundred thousand dollars, to replace those destroyed 

 in the late seige. The magnificent palm-house at Kcw is 

 built of iron and glass, and is three hundred and sixt^'-two 

 feet long, and the main portion is one hundred feet wide and 

 sixty-six feet high, with a gallery thirty feet in hight, from 

 which the visitor may look down upon a "most superb variety 

 of tropical vegetation. These gardens now contain the larg- 

 est and best arranged collection of living plants in .the world, 

 as well as the most complete herbarium and botanical mu- 

 seum. 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 

 b}^ 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 



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