REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 77 



Tbf collection of plants known as the National Herbarium has been left in the 

 immediate charge of this Department, the expense of its care, maintenance, and 

 extension being annually provided for in our appropriations 



This collection is, we are informed, a very valuable one, especially since it con- 

 tains a great number of "typo sp(^cimens'' from th(> Fremont, Wilkes, and othei 

 expeditions, and deserves to 1)0 housed and cared for m the most reliable and effi- 

 cient manner. It is at present located in the otTfices of the division of botany in the 

 main building of the Department of Agriculture. As is well known, tins building 

 is not fireproof, and is considered to be unsafe for other reasons 



I write, therefore, with the approval of the Honorable Secretary, to ask the Smith- 

 sonian Institution to provide a place for this collection. Being desirous ot relief 

 from further responsibility for tlio safety of this collection, which is connected only 

 in part with the work under our charge, we feel that we have a right to make this 

 reciuest of your Institution. 



Since the botanist of the Department of Agriculture is also curator of the Her- 

 barium, and since an assistant curator and several clerks and laborers are provided 

 to work on it, this Department would expect to continue, through these legally 

 appointed officers, to do all necessary work upon the herbarium, and must, for this 

 purpose, have full access to it. 



In addition to the space re(iuired for the Herbarium proper, several rooms will be 

 required for the accommodation of these workers and some storage space for duj)!!- 

 cate specimens. The details of these matters will be explained by the botanist. 

 This Department would expect to have the privilege of removing to its building 

 from time to time any portion of the Herbarium that may be re(imred for study in 

 connection with its work. The working collection of fungi in the division of vege- 

 table pathology and the collections of the division of forestry, having been made 

 independently of the Herbarium and its appropriations, are not considered a part 

 of it and are not offered for transfer at this time. The grass collection of the Her- 

 barium will also be needed at this Department for the present. 



If desired, the cases and like furniture can be transferred with the collection. 



Respectfully yours, 



CiiAS. W. Dabnky, Jr., 



Assistant Secretary. 

 The Secretauv, Smithsonian Institction, 



Wash hi g toil, D.C. 



FROM THE A( ting SECRETAKY OF THE .SAIITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



July 28, 189!. 



Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of July 24, asking the Smith.sonian Institution 

 to relieve the Department of Agriculture from the responsibility for the safety of the 

 collections of plants known as the National Herbarium, by providing a place for it in 

 a fireproof building. 



I appreciate fully the value of the National Herbarium, and although all the build- 

 ings under the charge of the Institution are already overcrowded, I find that it is 

 possible, by still further condensing, to assign to the collections of plants which you 

 oiler to transfer, together with those already here, a space on one of the balconies 

 in the new Museum building with the adjoining laboratory rooms, which, though 

 inadequate for its proper reception will, in a certain way, meet the necessities of the 

 case, and which has at least the recommendation of being free Iroin the danger of fire. 



If the ca es and other furniture referred to in your letter can be transferred to the 

 Museum, I see no reason why the plants may not be received at any time that may 

 suit the convenience of the Department. 



I understand it to be your purpose that the botanist of the Department of Agri- 

 culture shall retain the position of honorary curator of the botauical collections iu 



