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would not only fail to make the most of its opportunities, it would 
thereby greatly restrict its usefulness and efficiency. “The assem- 
bling and proper care of a large collection of plants, native and 
exotic, demands a staff of highly trained and experienced spe- 
cialists in botany and horticulture; men who are not only pos- 
sessed of such knowledge of plant life as has already been ascer- 
tained, within the range of their special interests, but who are 
competent and desirous of extending our knowledge of plants. 
Much of this new knowledge (e. g., in plant pathology and plant 
breeding) may become immediately applicable in the care of our 
collections and otherwise, some of it may find its so-called “ prac- 
tical” use only later; but one can never tell when some bit of re- 
liable scientific information may become of the utmost importance 
in our daily affairs; research, therefore, should not be restricted 
to what may seem, in advance, to be useful or usable. Certain 
it is that if a botanic garden is to be more than a park, if it is to 
be in reality a scientific institution, it must be administered by 
men who are not only competent to extend the boundaries of our 
knowledge, but whose services cannot be secured and retained 
unless time and opportunity are given for such work. 
It can hardly be overemphasized that, however valuable the 
diffusion of popular information may be, and however appropriate 
as a function of an institution supported in whole or in part by 
public money, the work of extending the limits of our knowledge 
is vastly more important, for it is fundamental to the former 
activity, vitalizing both it and those engaged in it; Said Presi- 
dent Butler in his last annual report to the trustees of Columbia 
University : “So long as the spirit of research dominates the uni- 
versity and is its major interest, just so long will its teaching be 
kept fully alive and just so long will its public service be real and 
vitalizing. To organize and to stimulate research, therefore, is 
the university’s chief business.” 
The same is equally true of a botanic garden which aims to be 
an educational and scientific institution ; its public service will be 
real and vitalizing and its teaching fully alive so long, and only 
so long, as it is dominated by the spirit of investigation, and the 
members of its staff are actively engaged in scientific research. 
The plan of our building, approved by the trustees and the 
