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From the beginning, the activities of the Brooklyn Botanic 
Garden have included both research and education. The second 
member of staff (after the director) to be appointed (in 1912) 
was a curator of public instruction, the first being a curator of 
plants. The third member appointed was an assistant curator 
(later curator) of elementary instruction. 
For the Advancement of Botany and the Service of the City 
The educational program of the Garden has been developed 
along two main lines. 
1. Service to the City. 
2. Service to botanical science and education in the broadest 
sense. 
Service to the City 
Since the Botanic Garden receives part of its annual support 
from the Tax Budget of the City, and occupies city owned build- 
ings and grounds, it is only fitting and proper that the Garden 
should endeavor to render as large a service as possible to the 
local community. 
Needs Peculiar to a City 
One who has had his elementary and high school education in a 
village or small city, or who has passed most of his adult life in 
such an environment, can hardly appreciate the limitations and 
handicaps with which a large city of several million inhabitants 
surrounds both children and adults in the matter of contact with. 
nature. Dwellers in small towns can hardly appreciate the fact 
that there are literally thousands of children in large cities who 
have never roamed through fields and over hills; who have never 
picked wild flowers where picking did no harm; who have never 
seen fruit and vegetables growing; who have never seen anyone 
working ina garden. ‘The limitations of knowledge of a city bred 
child, concerning such matters, are almost beyond belief, and these 
limitations make it necessary, in a city community, to provide 
formal instruction along such lines on a much more extensive scale 
than would be necessary in village or country. The larger the 
city the greater the need. 
