1915] 



HILL — BOTANIC GARDENS 217 



in its completeness, if it does not already excel, any botanical 



institution in the Old World. 1 



The Botanic Garden of Harvard University, which was 

 founded in 1805, next claims attention. The garden itself is 

 small, but in combination with the herbarium containing 

 Gray's collection, the museums, library, and laboratories, it 

 forms a botanical institution singularly complete and efficient. 



With the Arnold Arboretum situated close at hand, Harvard 

 has become a Mecca for botanists all the world over. The 

 Arboretum, 2 founded by Mr. James Arnold, covers at present 

 about two hundred and twenty acres, and the collection of trees 

 and shrubs brought together by the remarkable industry of 

 Professor Sargent is unrivalled, and it stands to-day for one 

 of the most interesting and valuable developments of the prin- 

 ciples of a botanic garden. To Professor Sargent, as well as 

 to such enlightened men as the de Vilmorins and the firm of 

 Veitch, the gardening world also owes a great debt of grati- 

 tude for the introduction of countless new hardy plants for 

 the enrichment of our gardens. 



Important work is being performed by the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, at Washington, in the introduction of 

 new plants, nor should the part played by the herbarium of the 

 United States National Museum be forgotten in this connec- 

 tion. Allusion may also be made at this point to the Desert 

 Laboratory at Tucson, and to the importance of the experi- 

 mental work which is being undertaken in Hawaii, Cuba, and 

 the Philippine Islands. 



Other botanic gardens are those of the Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College (1877), the University Botanic Garden at Berke- 

 ley, California, the Botanic Garden of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania at Philadelphia, of Smith College at Northampton, 

 and the Buffalo Botanical Garden. These each and all are 

 of recent foundation and have been established in response 



1 Britton, N. L. Botanical Gardens. N. Y. Bot. Gard., Bull. 1: 62-77. 1897; 

 Underwood, L. M. The department of botany and its relation to the New York 

 Botanical Garden. Columbia Univ. Quart. 4:278-292. 1903; Britton, N. L. 

 Botanical Gardens. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 23: 331-345. 189(1. [See pp. 341-345.1 

 See also Britton, N. L. hoc. cit. pp. 72-77. 



*Kew Bull. Misc. Inf. 1910: 2G1-2G9. 1910. 



