34 



" to provide for the establishment of a botanic garden and 

 arboretum on park lands in the city of Brooklyn, and for the care 

 of the same." This bill, which became ,1 law on May 18, 1897. 

 secured the setting- aside, for botanic garden purposes, of the major 

 portion of the land now occupied by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 

 not including what arc now known at the Garden as the north and 

 south additions. 



It was provided in this Act (Laws of New York, 1897, Chapter 

 509) that the Garden should lie laid out and administered by the 

 Bark Commissioner of the then City of Brooklyn, and that the 

 grounds should be so laid out as to serve "as a proper approach 

 t<> the Museum iuiildnu; <d ihe Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 

 Sciences.'' This was in accordance with suggestions of the late 

 Prof. Franklin W. Hooper, the director of the Bistitute. 



It was Mr. Alfred T. White, " father of the Brooklyn Botanic 

 Garden" who suggested, about nine years later, that the proposed 

 Garden be administered by the Trustees of The Brooklyn Insti- 

 tute of Arts and Sciences, and the Act of 1897 was amended In 

 the Act of May 24. 1906 (Laws of Xew York. 1906. Chapter 

 618), and again by the Act of May 20, 191 r (Laws of New York, 

 i()i 1, Chapter 178), so as to provide for the administration of the 

 Garden by The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, whenever 

 the Institute should raise " by private subscription the sum of 

 fifty thousand dollars within one year from the passage of this act, 

 the principal of which or the income thereof to be set apart and 

 used by said institute for the purchase of plants., flowers, shrubs 

 and trees, or for other purposes in connection with said botanic 

 garden and arboretum. . . ." This sum was secured by Mr. 

 White, and thus, through the combined services of Professor 

 Hooper (who first suggested the idea of a botanic garden on the 

 present site), of Dr. Brush (who secured the enactment of the 

 necessary legislation), and of Mr. White (who proposed that the 

 Garden be administered by the Institute and who secured the 

 necessary initial funds), the Garden was finally launched, the con- 

 tract or Agreement between the City and the Institute being ex- 

 ecuted on December 28, 1909. at the close of the Mayoralty of 

 lion. George B. McClellan. 



