36 MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



laws. Nature if left to itself provides for us a botanical garden 

 but with a very awkward arrangement. She seldom classifies, 

 points out or directs. People look with satisfaction on a host of 

 ^•aricd plants of which such a natural garden is made up, but 

 with enjoyment only. No information is offered and little or no 

 accurate knowledge is obtained. You who are able to present 

 to the general public such an extraordinary garden, in which the 

 visitors young and old alike are made acquainted with a most 

 remarkable collection of plants, should consider yourselves as 

 foremost among the teachers of botany, and your effort represents 

 no small directing factor in the dissemination of accurate informa- 

 tion about plants. 



In passing I feel that I must call the attention of those con- 

 cerned to the fact that many of my students have spoken with 

 peculiar interest of their visits to the New York botanical and 

 zoological gardens. To be sure, weird plants and animals have 

 often been described to me — products of a fading memory and 

 active imagination — but they are none the less indicative of the 

 real interest excited in the visitor. 



Finally, the methods employed in, and the conditions attendant 

 upon, graduate instruction and research present real problems, 

 and, in order that we may properly train the interested student 

 in advanced work so that we may have a steady procession of 

 competent botanists, and thus assure ourselves of the permanency 

 of the science, I believe we must turn more attention toward these 

 problems. I have time only to mention them here. 



The graduate student is peculiarly sensitive to the conditions 

 attendant upon his work. A spirit of harmony among the mem- 

 bers of the department in which he labors inspires him with con- 

 fidence and enthusiasm, while on the other hand the evil effects of 

 contention and ultra-individualism are sooner or later to be 

 reflected in the graduate product. 



There is need for a greater spirit of cooperation among investi- 

 gators. We are too prone to look with pity from our field of 

 activity over to those who maybe working as fertile a soil but with 

 different results. 



There is need also for more thorough organization in botanical 

 research. Probably no one of us has escaped the experience of 

 reading articles from the pen of another author, which contain 



