K^ 



\ 



84 



cil)out two miles. I once expressed my surprise that he did not 

 use his automohilc more, and he replied that his systematic 

 walking- whenever time and distance permitted was one of the 

 secrets of his good health. 



I have referred to him as the father of the Brooklyn Botanic 

 Garden, and this he was in a very real sense. The idea of a 

 hotanic garden in Brooklyn, so far as concerns the present 

 mstitution, appears to have originated with Prof. Franklin W. 

 Hooper, but the idea of having the Garden administered by 

 the trustees of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences was 

 Mr. White's. It was he who secured, though he did not con- 



$5 



/ 



the 



guaranteed to 



secure 



City as a condition of entering into a cooperative arrangement 

 with the Institute for the establishment of tlie Garden. It was 

 he who, more than anyone else, appreciated the significance of 

 more ambitious pkms for the Garden than were at first con- 

 templated. 



It was he who came forward at every time of crisis or vital 

 need to supply or secure the funds necessary to save the situa- 

 tion. W hen the projected plans for a Japanese Garden (one of 

 our first *' aml:)itious " plans) seemed doomed to failure, he 



the necessary money, deposited the 

 amount in a near1)y bank subject to the check of the director, 

 and authorized the work to proceed. The result Avas one of 

 the finest exrunples of Japanese gardening in America, and one 

 of the very few in a public park.''' 



When the City enlarged the area of the Botanic Garden by 

 transferring to it the tract known as the *' south addition,'' but 

 made no provision for rendering it available for use by fencing 

 it in, it was Mr. White who provided the fence. This area is 

 now one of the most beautiful and useful parts of the Garden. 



When the construction of our laboratory and administration 

 building came to a standstill while only about one fourth com- 

 l^ileted, it was Mr. White who secured, and in part contributed, 



oo.ooo — one half the cost of 



private funds to the amount of $100,000— 



* So far as is known to the writer there is no other Japanese garden 

 in a public park east of the Rocky Mountains. 



^ J 



