328 
EAST LANSING 
BraL Botanic GARDEN 
Michigan State College, East Lansing 
Established: 1877. Area: Slightly more than 3 acres. 
Directors: 
1. W. J. Beal (1877-1910) 
2. Ernst A. Bessey (1911-1914) 
3. H. R. Darlington (1915-1930) 
4. H. L. H. Chapman (Superintendent) (1931- ) 
Serves as a public park. Open free, daily. Source of income: 
Appropriations from ee State College. No separate ap- 
propriations. Library: The Library of the Botany Department. 
Herbarium: About 90,000 specimens, belonging to the Depart- 
ment of Botany. Plantations: Systematic, economic, local flora. 
Conservatories: A small range. Publications: Seed Exchange List 
(annually). Lectures are given to school children at the garden 
on request. Living material supplied for study to local schools 
occasionally. 
“Perhaps the greatest service that the Garden does is as an ac- 
climatization experiment station. Thanks to the fraternal rela- 
tions that exist between all Kew graduates, Superintendent Chap- 
man obtains each year from Kew men all over the world, hundreds 
of kinds of seeds of plants which he tests out here as to their 
adaptability and desirability under Michigan conditions. Of 
course, only a very few each year prove to be valuable. These are 
mostly plants which are not to be found in the general nursery 
trade. When a plant proves to be desirable a sufficient number 
are propagated so that these can be exchanged for other valuable 
plants with various growers in Michigan. In this way, the grow- 
ers have these new things available and at the same time several 
desirable plants are added to their collection. 
“The Garden is visited in the summer by thousands of people. 
Excursions are made by Garden Clubs from points as far as a 
hundred miles away. Several schools have the habit in May of 
bringing two or three truckloads of children to the Garden, some 
of them coming as far as ninety miles. On days like July 4, May 
30 and Labor Day, sometimes from five to ten thousand people 
visit the Garden.” 
