May 31, 1919 



IIORTICULTUHE 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO 



VISIT THE ARNOLD 



ARBORETUM. 



To the Board of Overseers of Har- 

 vard College: — 



Your Committee appointed to visit 

 the Arnold Arboretum has the honor 

 to render its report. 



Founded in 1S47, the Arboretum, 

 which has been managed with intelli- 

 gence, energy and economy, has estab- 

 lished a world wide reputation and at- 

 tained an influence which is remark- 

 able when it is remembered that it Is 

 the work of one generation and that 

 it is still controlled by the man to 

 whom it was first entrusted by the 

 Corporation. The $100,000 given to 

 the University by the trustees under 

 the will of James Arnold of New Bed- 

 ford to establish an Arboretum has 

 been Increased by the generosity of 

 friends to more than $700,000, and In 

 addition to the income of this endow- 

 ment between twelve and thirteen hun- 

 dred thousand dollars, including the 

 money contributed by the City of Bos- 

 ton, have been spent in the establish- 

 ment and scientific activities of this 

 department of the University. 



To Mr. Arnold's trustees an arbo- 

 retum was a collection of trees able 

 to support the climate of eastern Mass- 

 achusetts and they probably did not 

 realize that their gift was to make pos- 

 sible in less than fifty years a scientific 

 establishment with few rivals in its 

 particular field and one of the best 

 known departments and chief orna- 

 ments of the University. The collec- 

 tion of trees and shrubs arranged for 

 convenient study in its outdoor muse- 

 um is already the most important in 

 America. The Arboretum is equipped 

 with a library of forty thousand books 

 and pamphlets and a herbarium of 

 nearly two hundred thousand speci- 

 mens. By its explorations, principally 

 in North America and eastern Asia, 

 undertaken for the discovery and in- 

 troduction of unknown plants, it has 

 increased the knowledge of trees and 

 introduced into the gardens and parks 

 of the United States a large number of 

 trees and shrubs before unknown in 

 them. We are told that the collections 

 which the Arboretum has brought to- 

 gether make it the best place in which 

 to study better facilities for the scien- 

 tific study of trees that can now be 

 found in America. 



by the collections is already too 

 crowded, and large additions of land 

 will be needed for it in the near future 

 for the proper display of the new 

 trees which are constantly discovered 

 or may be created by the art of the 

 hybridiser. A larger endowment is 

 needed now and much more money 

 will be needed from time to time in the 

 future if the Arboretum is to meet the 

 increasing demands which are made 

 on it. 



The Arboretum is national in the 

 scope of its work. It has been as ac- 

 tive and successful, for example, in 

 supplying new trees and information 

 about them to planters in Illinois or 

 California as in its efforts to improve 

 the parks and gardens of New Eng- 

 land. It is fair, therefore, that finan- 

 cial support for it should be as nation- 

 al as its activities. Your Committee 

 feels, therefore, that it is its duty to 

 appeal to persons interested in trees 

 in all parts of the country to help it 

 improve this department of the Univer- 

 sity and to increase its usefulness. 



An immediate and pressing need of 

 the Arboretum is the land, about six- 

 teen acres in extent, between South 

 Street, Jamaica Plain, and the Dedham 

 Branch of the N. Y., N. H. & H. Rail- 

 road, the property of the President 

 and Fellows of the University. This 

 land is needed by the Arboretum for 

 its large collection of poplar and wil- 

 low trees for which it has now no 

 proper or suitable location. Poplar 

 trees are valuable, for they are the 

 only trees of large size which can be 

 successfully grown over thousands of 

 square miles in the drier regions of 

 the United States. Opportunity should 

 be found in the Arboretum to study 

 these trees growing under the most 

 favorable conditions. Many willows 

 are important trees and all willows 

 are of particular interest to students 

 of trees and shrubs. 



As a museum the ground occupied 



The present condition of the collec- 

 tion of poplars and willows is not a 

 credit to the Arboretum. These sixteen 

 acres of land which are perfectly 

 suited for these collections are not 

 used by the University. A large part 

 of it is low meadow without drainage, 

 unsuited for agricultural experiments 

 or for a garden. 



This is not the first time your Com- 

 mittee has called your attention to the 

 importance of this land for the Arbore- 

 tum, and through some of its members 

 it has made various efforts to obtain 

 the consent of the Corporation for its 

 use by the Arboretum. It takes this 

 opportunity to express again its belief 



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SEEDS AND BULBS 

 JBobbtncfton'8 



128 Chamber* St., N. Y. City 



that the best interests of the Unive* 

 sity will be served by devoting it to 

 the uses of the Arboretum. 



William A. Gaston, 



Walter Hunneweix, 



Charles E. Stratton, 



Mus. Louis A. Frothinuham, 



John Loweia, 



John E. Thayer, 



Frank G. Webster, 



Charles A. Stone, 



William C. En'dicott, 



Theodore A. Havemeyer, 



Charles L. Hutchinson, 



Richard T. Crane, Jr.. 



Henry F. Dtj Pont. 



January 13, 1919. 



ENTERS FERN BUSINESS. 

 It is understood that George Dug- 

 gan, formerly a clerk at the American 

 Express office in Adams but more re- 

 cently of Cheshire, has leased the large 

 farm on the Jenks property on Center 

 street. It is reported that Mr. Duggan 

 contemplates entering the fern busi- 

 ness and that he will use the large 

 barn for storage and sorting purposes. 

 He will be the second to engage in the 

 fern business in this town. Robert 

 Groves of Commercial street, having 

 conducted such an enterprise for many 

 years past. — Adams Transcript. 



