[Vol. 2 



166 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



I deplore the consequences of such a serious lack of fore- 

 thought, since, depending on the wills of others with ideas 

 differing from mine, the Garden will never be able to prosper, 

 or will prosper with great difficulties on account of lack of 

 freedom. 



Having finished the preliminary tasks which I had under- 

 taken, I proceeded to make a sketch of the Garden as shown 

 in fig. 1, which is here reproduced as approved by the authori- 

 ties. As may be seen in the sketch, the Botanical (Jarden of 

 Oaxaca is still in the process of formation. The tract of land 

 assigned to it consists approximately of nine hectares, an area 

 extensive enough to contain all the most prominent specimens 

 of the mundane flora and all the characteristic specimens of 

 the national flora. 



Of the three valleys of the Station to the east of the Oaxaca 

 and Ejutla Railroad, the Garden occupies the middle one, 

 which is the one best suited for that purpose and at the same 

 time most accessible. At the beginning it was subdivided into 

 five departments, somewhat unequal in size, together compris- 

 ing a rectangle 400 meters in length (from north to south) by 

 200 meters in width (from east to west) ; but later this area 

 was increased by an addition of 3,000 square meters, which 

 was annexed to the southwest corner, and again by a sixth 

 department, semilunar in outline, comprising 5,000 square 

 meters, annexed at the middle part of the west side. Deduct- 

 ing from this total area about two hectares which will be 

 taken up by the prospective lake, walks, and lanes, there 

 remain not more than seven hectares of land which can be 

 utilized for the cultivation of plants. 



As I have shown in a recent work, the Botanical Garden of 

 Oaxaca is the first and only one worthy of the name in the 

 whole of the Republic. This fact alone, signifying a positive 

 progress, should have been sufficient to enlist the support of 

 the authorities, as well as the public in general; but contrary 

 to what might be expected, its existence has been, especially 

 recently, extremely neglected. I have made this clear in the 

 opinion expressed in my reports to the higher authorities, 

 as may be seen from the following : 



