DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL RESEARCH * 



D. T. MacDougal, Director. 



The facilities of the Department have been directed toward the study of 

 basic problems in physiology, morphology, phylogeny, and geography of plants, 

 with what success may be denoted by the appended detailed descriptions. The 

 Desert Laboratory remains the chief locus for experimentation and investiga- 

 tions within the scope of the Department, but the development of the work 

 upon questions that have arisen and press for solution has led to the establish- 

 ment of almost continuous field-work about and on the Salton Sea in Southern 

 California and in the Pattie Basin in Baja California, over 300 miles distant 

 from Tucson, and to the development of the mountain plantations in the Santa 

 Catalina Mountains, the farthest of which lies 32 miles away and is to be 

 reached only by two days' riding on horseback. It seems desirable at the 

 present time to make some similar extensions to localities some distance to the 

 southward in Mexican deserts. ,• 



It is very gratifying to record that a large amount of valuable work has 

 been accomplished by the cooperation of the members of the staff with one 

 another and with persons from many other institutions. This is especially 

 exemplified by the work of Professor Spalding, who has secured the attention 

 of a half dozen other workers to certain features of the region in which he has 

 carried on a very exact phytogeographic survey. Drs. Livingston and Shreve, 

 during 1907 and 1908, have been so fortunate as to receive the active, pains- 

 taking cooperation of over 40 observers at various places in North America 

 in testing the evaporating power of the air by means of the newly devised at- 

 mometer. It would have been impossible to obtain the data at hand except by 

 such aid. Other arrangements of the same kind are described in a section of 

 this report (see p. 68). So far as the operations of this Department are con- 

 cerned, the facts point unerringly to the conclusion that the only efficient 

 method of "cooperation" is that by which combination of facilities, coordina- 

 tion of effort, and development of opportunities is arranged between members 

 of the staffs of two institutions with the approval of the administration, rather 

 than by formal institutional participation. The most important feature of 

 such arrangements is the personal element and individual contact of the work- 

 ers involved. Perfect adjustment with respect to these features will make 

 possible results of far greater value than might come from concurrent resolu- 

 tions by boards of trustees. 



* Address : Desert Laboratory, Tucson, Arizona. Grant No. 473. $29,240 for investi- 

 gations and maintenance. (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.) 



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