242 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



fee or without charge. The four main 

 elements of the modern botanical garden 

 have thus been brought into it suc- 

 cessively : 



1 . The utilitarian or economic. 



2. The aesthetic. 



3. The scientific or biologic. 



4. The philanthropic. 



These four elements have been given 

 different degrees of prominence, depend- 

 ing mainly upon local conditions, some 

 gardens being essentially aesthetic, some 

 mainly scientific, while in our public 

 parks we find the philanthropic function 

 as the underlying feature, usually ac- 

 companied by more or less of the aesthetic 

 and scientific. 



The Econofnic Element. — In the broad- 

 est extension of this department of a 

 botanical garden there might be included, 

 to advantage, facilities for the display 

 and investigation of all plants directly or 

 indirectly useful to man, and their pro- 

 ducts. This conception would include 

 forestry, pharmacognosy, agriculture, 

 pomology, pathology and organic chem- 

 istry, and, in case the management re- 

 gards bacteria as plants, bacteriology. 



The display of the plants may be ef- 

 fected by growing such of them as will 

 exist without protection in the locality 

 in a plot, more or less individualized, 

 commonly known as the Economic Gar- 

 den, while those too tender for cultiva- 

 tion in the open are grown in the green- 

 houses, either in a separate house or 

 section, or scattered through the several 

 houses or sections, in the temperatures 

 best adapted to their growth. The dis- 

 play of plant products, best accompanied 

 by mounted specimens of the species 

 yielding them, by photographs and by 

 plates, is accomplished by the Economic 

 Museum, where these are arranged in 

 glass or glass-fronted cases, suitably 

 classified and labeled. It is believed 

 that the most useful results are obtained 



by arranging this museum by the pro- 

 ducts themselves, and thus not in 

 biologic sequence, but by bringing to- 

 gether all drugs, all fibres, all woods, all 

 resins ; where the same product is used 

 in more than one industry the exhibit 

 may be duplicated, more or less modified, 

 without disadvantage. 



The investigation of economic plants 

 and their products is accomplished 

 through the Scientific Department, and 

 few valuable results can be reached 

 unless the scientific equipment is well 

 developed. The two departments must 

 work conjointly, both on account of the 

 necessity of knowing just what species is 

 under investigation, its structure, dis- 

 tribution and literature, and in order that 

 the most approved and exact methods 

 may be used in the research. Any idea 

 that the scientific element can be dis- 

 pensed with in connection with economic 

 studies is palpably untenable. 



Teaching and research in agriculture, 

 pomology and plant pathology are so 

 well organized in America, through our 

 National Department of Agriculture and 

 our numerous agricultural colleges and 

 schools, that there is no great necessity 

 for providing elaborate equipments for 

 those branches in botanical gardens. But 

 in case the endowment of a garden were 

 sufficiently large to enable them to be 

 successfully prosecuted, in addition to 

 more necessary work, there can be no 

 doubt that important additions to knowl- 

 edge would be obtained. On the other 

 hand, no such liberal allowances have 

 been made with us for forestry or phar- 

 macognosy, and research and instruction 

 in these sciences must prove of the great- 

 est benefit to the country. 



The Esthetic Eleme?it. — The build- 

 ings, roads, paths and planting of a 

 botanical garden should be constructed 

 and arranged with reference to tasteful 

 and decorative landscape efiect. The 



