THe DIRECTOR 
The sticcess of the venture in founding the Garden depended 
greatly upon the wise selection of the Director, and the members 
of the Board of Trustees showed remarkable foresight in their 
choice of Dr. Charles Stuart Gager, at the time Professor of 
Botany in the University of Missouri. His educational and 
scientific training, and his experience in teaching and research, 
eminently fitted him for undertaking the development of the 
Botanic Garden. 
Following his graduation from Syracuse University, where he 
received the bachelor’s degree in 1895, Dr. Gager acquired, during 
the next fifteen years, a wealth of varied experiences in botanical 
teaching and research. The years 1895-1904 were spent in teach- 
ing and advanced studies, with emphasis on botany. During 
1895-1896 he was Vice Principal of the Ives Seminary, Antwerp, 
N. Y. The next year, 1896-1897, he was a student at the New 
York State Normal College, Albany, N. Y., where he obtained the 
two degrees, Bachelor and Master of Pedagogy. In the fall of 
1897 he became Professor of Biological Sciences and Physiography 
at that institution, holding the position until September, 1904. He 
attended the Harvard Summer School in 1898, and was at Cornell 
University during 1901-1902, for graduate study and as Assistant 
in Botany. He obtained his degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 
June, 1902, from Cornell, carrying on his research under the direc- 
tion of Professor George F. Atkinson. He returned to Cornell 
as Instructor in Botany during the summer of 1904. 
The years 1904-1910 were spent in research and the teaching 
of botany in several institutions. He was Laboratory Assistant 
at the New York Botanical Garden under Dr. Daniel Trembly 
MacDougal during 1904-1905. In the spring of 1905 he was 
Acting Professor of Botany at Rutgers College, N. J., and in the 
fall of 1905 he was teacher of botany at the Morris High School. 
New York. He also taught botany at the summer sessions of 
New. York University in 1905 and 1906. In February, 1906, he 
succeeded Dr. MacDougal as Director of the Labanteres at the 
New York Botanical Garden, holding this position until August, 
1908, where he devoted himself largely to research, making a 
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