44 
wall, of screening out the commotion and dust and, to a certain 
degree the distracting noise of the street. This is in recognition 
of the fact that a public garden (or park) is not a thing to be 
looked at from the street, but a place to go into, to escape from 
an attempt to preserve 
the streets and other aspects of the city 
a bit of the country in urban surroundings. 
Commissioner Young had also carried out the grading in such 
a way as to provide a diversified topography, with several attrac- 
tive little hills, and a picturesque lake. Convenient gravel walks 
had also been made. Such was our inheritance. 
Progress of Development 
3ut a botanic garden is more than a park, however much it may 
serve patk purposes. In cooperation with Olmstead Brothers, 
landscape architects, comprehensive plans were made for the lay- 
out of the entire area as a botanic garden with specialized planta- 
tions, and special features such, for example, as the Brook, essen- 
tial to provide diversified concen for different kinds al plant 
lite, 
Lhe First Governing Conunittee 
The first chairman of the B oe Garden Governing Committee 
of our Trustees, Mr. Alfred TT. White, was not only a man of 
great public spirit; he was aa a trained engineer and an en- 
thusiastic amateur field botanist, and his counsel and constructive 
suggestions, and very intelligent sympathy were of inestimable 
value during these early years; and these facts, combined with Mr. 
White's moral and financial support during the early years (until 
his death in 1921), insured more rapid and substantial progress 
than could have been possible without him. Mr. White also 
gathered about him from the membership of the Board of Trus- 
tees, a Governing Committee whose understanding interest made 
it a is easure to meet and surmount difficulties that might other- 
wise have been only discouraging impediments. Among these men 
were President A. Augustus Healy, whose death in 1921 was a 
great loss. It should also be noted here that of the original Gov- 
erning Committee, Mr. Gates D. Fahnestock and Mr. William A. 
Putnam are still members. The other two members of the origi- 
