[Vol. 2 



172 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



this department various groups of practically useful plants 

 — industrial, tinctorial, poisonous, medicinal, etc. 



DEPARTMENT OF PROPAGATION 



This department is situated in the middle eastern part of 

 the Botanical Garden and comprises an area of not more than 

 half a hectare. Its shape is that of a semicircle bounded on 

 its convex side by the Adolf Engler walk; this is the name of 

 the famous author of the classification adopted by the Garden, 

 with few very slight exceptions suggested by the 'Lexicon 

 Generum Phanerogamarum ' of von Post and 0. Kuntze. The 

 sides of this walk are planted for the time being with various 

 specimens of Melia Azedarach, but in the near future these 

 will be replaced by specimens of "Rosa-Cacao," an imposing 

 pyramid-like tree with horizontal and vertical brandies. 



As indicated by the name, this department is devoted to 

 the propagation of plants for this Garden and similar 

 establishments in this and other countries. 



WALKS AND IRRIGATION CENTERS 



Of the walks of the Garden, the one called "Carlos Linneo" 

 forms the western boundary line of the Garden and serves it, 

 so to speak, as a base. It is a straight line 420 meters long, 

 running from north to south, parallel to the Oaxaca and 

 Ejutla Railroad, and throughout its length there are, five feet 

 apart, 84 specimens of Casuarina stricta about three meters 

 in height. Two other walks worth mentioning on account of 



their width (10 meters) are the Asa Gray and the John 

 Lindley walks ; these run along the outer side of the systematic 

 department and have as a border 105 laurels from India, as 



yet rather small. 



One of the far-reaching improvements for the progress of 

 the Botanical Garden has been the establishment of a prac- 

 tical irrigation system, which was first introduced at the end 

 of 1913 and developed later as shown in fig. 2. 



For this purpose we first laid under the ground 400 meters 

 of 2^-inch pipe through the center of the Garden from the 

 large circular tank, situated on the southern slope, to the wide 



