THE ADVANTAGES OF AN ARBORETUM. 



READ BY PROF. W. J. REAL IN REPRESENTATIVE HALL, LANSING, 

 WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 22, 1873. 



An Arboretum is an artificial collection of living trees and shrubs, including 

 those raised for fruit, of course. It is more limited in signification than 

 Botanic Garden, which means a plantation of herbs as well as trees and shrubs. 



Europe possesses large numbers of Botanic Gardens. They are found in or 

 near Naples, Florence, Turin, Milan, Leipsic, Berlin, Paris, London, and many 

 other cities and villages. Some are celebrated for one family of plants, while 

 others excel in several departments. The gardens of Munich and Nympheu- 

 burg excel in palms; that of Edinburgh in heaths; that of the London 

 Horticultural Society in trees. Many of these gardens contain museums of 

 ■vegetable products in various stages of growth or in different degrees of advance- 

 ment in their manufacture. All or nearly all have an herbarium, — a col lection 

 of dried plants properly named, — a library of works on botany and kindred 

 subjects, and green-houses for raising trees, shrubs, and other plants too tender 

 to endure the cold of northern climes. 



Gardens of more or less pretension are as ancient as the human race. One 

 of the oldest now in existence was founded by Queen Elizabeth at Hampton 

 Court, continued under Charles IL and William IIL, and since rendered still 

 more illustrious by Leonard Plunkenet, one of the most active of plant col- 

 lectors. One of the richest gardens known is that of Prince Eszterhazy at 

 Kismartony, containing 70,000 species of plants. The United Kingdom of 

 Great Britain has at lenst ten public and thirteen private Botanic Gardens. 

 The Kew Garden, near London, surpasses all the rest. It was first opened to 

 the public in 1840, when it was put under the directorship of Sir "William J. 

 Hooker. The whole grounds include 345 acres, a large part of which are 

 covered by native forests. The garden proper contains about 60 acres. The 

 grounds contain at least nine large green-houses, among which is a palm- 

 house, 100 by 362, and 66 feet high. The Kew Garden not uncommonly con- 

 tains 1,200 visitors at one time, and during the whole of one holiday it reached 

 pver 28,000. The yearly amount appropriated for its support would be con- 

 sidered extravagant by many of our Western people. 



France has at least twenty-five prominent public gardens ; little Switzerland 

 has five ; Denmark four; and poor sterile Sweden supports five. Each of the 

 following places has one, and perhaps some of them more: Bombay, Ceylon, 

 Calcutta, Cape of Good Hope, Canton, Mexico, Kio Jauerio, Chili, Teneriffe, 

 Cambridge, Mass., New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and St. Louis. Each 

 has made a good start. 



