NATIONAL MUSEUM BUILDINGS. 189 



supervision of the oflScer in charge of public grounds, the Institution 

 has always maintained a deep interest in the condition of its surround- 

 ings, and has in fact aided materially toward their betterment, as fre- 

 quently noted in the reports of Secretary Henry and his successors. 



In 1855 Professor Henry wrote that since the death of the lamented 

 Downing but little had been done to complete the general plans of the 

 improvement of the Mall proposed by him and adopted by Congress, 

 although an annual appropriation had been made for keeping in order 

 the lot on which the Smithsonian building is situated. Regret was 

 expressed that Congress had not made an appropriation to promote 

 the suggestion of Dr. John Torrey and other botanists of establishing 

 here an arboretum to exhibit the various ornamental trees of indi- 

 genous growth in this country. 



This scheme was never more than tentatively carried out, but in 1899 

 the Secretary of Agriculture revived the subject, in his annual report, 

 from which the following extract is taken: 



One of the needs of the Department is an aboretnm in which can be brought 

 together for study all the trees that will grow in the climate of Washington. The 

 need of such an establishment was felt early in the history of the capital and was 

 brought forward more than fifty years ago among the various plans proposed for the 

 use of the Smithson bequest, which was finally devoted to the founding of the pres- 

 ent Smithsonian Institution. In the report of the building committee of that Insti- 

 tution for 1850 the following statement occurs: 



"Mr." Downing, the well-known writer on rural architecture, at the request of the 

 President, is now preparing a plan for converting the whole Mall, including the 

 Smithsonian grounds, into an extended landscape garden, to be traversed in different 

 directions by graveled walks and carriage drives and planted with specimens, prop- 

 erly labeled, of all the varieties of trees and shrubs which will flourish in this cli- 

 mate." 



This admirable plan, apparently from lack of financial support from Congress, was 

 never systematically prosecuted, and the plantings at first made were so neglected 

 that the nurse trees themselves are now being rapidly broken down and destroyed 

 by storm, disease, and decay. When the grounds of the Department of Agriculture 

 were laid out, in 1868, Mr. William Saunders, then, as now, horticulturist of the 

 Department, established a small arboretum commensurate with the size of the 

 grounds. An arboretum in this climate, however, requires an area of several hun- 

 dred acres. The time has come when the economic needs of the Department and 

 the education and pleasure of the people demand a rich collection of trees planted 

 so as to secure the best effects of landscape art, furnishing complete materials for 

 the investigations of the Department of Agriculture, and so managed as to be a 

 perennial means of botanical education. We are now engaged in introducing useful 

 trees from all parts of the world, such as those producing fruits, dyes, nuts, oils, and 

 tans, those useful for ornamental purposes, and especially those promising shade, 

 shelter, and fuel in the arid region. 



At the present time we have no central place in which to plant and maintain a 

 series of these trees for study and i)ropagation. The importations must be sent out 

 as fast a they are received, without any opportunity for our investigators to make 

 any observations on their behavior under cultivation, and in the case of small and 

 valuable importations subjecting the whole stock to the possibility of total loss. In 

 view of these conditions, I wish to bring to the attention of Congress the importance 



