Seibcrt 



Arboreta and Botanical Gardens 



79 



can be replaced, except by bodily mov- 

 ing many of the time-honored speci- 

 mens to a new location. I'm sure that 

 were the public authorities forced to 

 dig up the funds for such operations 

 they, too, would look upon the value 

 of a botanic garden or arboretum in a 

 much different light. Arboreta and bo- 

 tanical gardens, in summary, are con- 

 tributing their share to human welfare: 



1. They are the basic source of 

 plants and information about plants 

 for that vast army of Americans who 

 have made home gardening their 

 number one hobby. 



2. They are the basic source of new 

 information concerning plants which 

 seeps into every level of education con- 

 cerning the hundreds of thousands of 

 plants known to science. 



3. They serve as training grounds 



for our future plant scientists and 

 gardeners. 



4. More than a serene site of re- 

 laxation for "tired" businessmen, they 

 can always add to the facilities avail- 

 able for passive, educational, cultural 

 and meditative recreation. 



5. It is to be obsen'cd that the 

 trend of most of our park departments 

 in this country is to make playgrounds 

 out of more of our parks. Tlie average 

 person who formerly took a walk in a 

 park because of the beautiful trees and 

 other plants must now fear being hit 

 by a baseball, run down by a charging 

 herd of humanity, or finding some man- 

 made structure where formerly stood a 

 majestic tree. Our botanical gardens 

 and arboreta must, in addition, ser\'e a 

 purpose for which much of the city 

 park was originally designed— beauty. 



QUESTIONS 



What are the three most common 

 questions asked by people of botanic 

 garden personnel? 



Enumerate some of the benefits that 

 accrue to nurserymen, florists, horticul- 



turists and farmers through the work 

 of the botanic gardens and arboreta. 



What is America's number one hobby? 

 Can you think of any reason why it 

 should be? Explain. 



