2 MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



with its river and falls and ponds, its ravine and marshes and 

 swales and twenty acres of hemlock forest, affording scenes as 

 wild and picturesque, almost, as the Adirondacks. 



But it is not natural beauty alone which we celebrate here, for 

 during its comparatively short life the Garden has won equal 

 rank as one of a quartette of educational and scientific institutions 

 established through private munificence in cooperation with the 

 City's funds for construction and maintenance— the other three 

 being the American Museum of Natural History, the Metro- 

 politan ]\Iuseum of Art, and the Zoological Park. Like these 

 kindred institutions, the Garden, in addition to the educational 

 facilities offered to specialists and to the general public, affords 

 opportunities for instruction through lectures, demonstrations, 

 and excursions through its grounds, museum, and greenhouses 

 to public school teachers and tens of thousands of school children. 

 Like these institutions also, it reaches out to other countries all 

 over the world and upwards of a hundred expeditions have been 

 sent out in this country and abroad to gather material for its 

 collections and research. The constantly increasing number of 

 those whose generosity has led to the contribution of valuable 

 collections or of funds for special collections or expeditions is a 

 source of great gratification to the IManagcrs, indicating as it 

 does, substantial appreciation of the aims which it has been their 

 endeavor to accomplish. 



The work of a great botanic garden is far wider than the mere 

 maintenance of a store-house for collections. In addition, it 

 comes under three divisions, that of research in pure science for 

 the advancement of botanical knowledge, second, that of edu- 

 cation of all classes of the community, from school children up- 

 ward, and finally there is the aesthetic field, which, like that of a 

 museum of art, should not alone afford gratification to the love 

 of beauty and form, Init which should be suggestive for imitation 

 elsewhere. In other words, the general effects of form and color 

 to be derived from appropriate grouping or mass i:)lanting may 

 be produced upon a large scale, combined with reference to 

 environment, seasonal conditions, etc. This latter phase ol the 

 Garden's work has l)cen left, in great jjart, until now, but the 

 140 acres of additional land lately secured, suggests its prac- 

 ticability and a special fund is being raised for its accomplishment. 



