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in these plans, and to supply further detailed information as to 
the activities contemplated and their importance. 
ON THE PRESENT INADEQUATE PROVISION FOR 
BOTANICAL RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES 
It has been seriously urged in certain quarters during recent 
years that botanical research is already sufficiently provided for 
by the various agricultural colleges, agricultural experiment sta- 
tions, the scientific bureaus of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, and the departments of botany (and the various sub- 
divisions of that science) in our universities. In order to secure 
a consensus of opinion on this question, letters were recently sent 
from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to representative investigators, 
scientific administrators, and laymen, whose opinions should have 
weight in such matters, asking whether, in their judgment, the 
present provisions for botanical research are adequate to the need, 
considering the extent of the field and the economic as well as 
scientific and educational importance of a knowledge of plant life. 
A number of the letters received are reproduced in the following 
pages. As will be seen, the writers are unanimous in their opinion 
that botanical research is still quite inadequately provided for. 
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 
WASHINGTON 
My dear Dr. Gager: 
I have received your letter of March 23d. 
I do not hesitate to express my opinion that the work which the 
Brooklyn Botanic Garden is now doing and projecting in the line 
of research in plant pathology is of high usefulness from the 
standpoint of both pure and applied science, and that while such 
excellent work is already being done in this field by various gov- 
ernmental, university, and experimental station agencies, this 
work is still far from adequate to meet the existing need. The 
enormous importance to our national strength of an adequate 
scientific knowledge of the diseases and pathology in general of 
plants, especially our cultivated plants, is unquestionable; and I 
