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that it is not difficult to fail of permanent and satisfactory 

 success, unless ample means are provided at the outset to 

 defray the unavoidable expenses of such establishments. 



In 1801, a botanic garden was started at Cambridge upon a 

 small tract of unsuitable land, but it has never flourished nor 

 been of much use, except to supply a few specimens for the 

 illustration of botanical lectures. It certainly is not credita- 

 ble to the alumni of Harvard, that, with all their munificent 

 gifts to their alma mater, they have so neglected a department 

 which has received such abundant honor in foreign universities. 

 Quite recently it has been announced that the sum of one 

 hundred thousand dollars has been given to establish an 

 arboretum upon the Bussey estate at West Roxbury, in con- 

 nection with the agricultural department of the University. 

 This is a move in the right direction, and evidently made with 

 an appreciation of the magnitude and importance of the under- 

 taking. Within a few years, also, through the liberality of 

 Nathaniel Thayer, Esq., excellent accommodations have been 

 provided for the extensive herbarium principally collected by 

 Professor Asa Gray, whose labors in this department of 

 science have won for him a world-wide reputation. The mar- 

 vellous achievements of the illustrious director of the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, in procuring money for 

 building and endowment, would seem to indicate that possibly 

 the claims of the botanical department may not in former 

 times have been presented to the solid men of Boston, or the 

 state legislature, with sufficient clearness or urgency. With 

 rare exceptions, wealthy men, burdened with the care of busi- 

 ness, however distinguished for liberality, can hardly be 

 expected to devote much of their valuable time to investiga- 

 ting the necessities of the scientific departments in our educa- 

 tional institutions. Hence the obvious propriety of full and 

 specific explanations of their objects and wants, and of awak- 

 ening a public interest in them, as the most rational means of 

 obtaining the funds required for their proper support. 



The only remaining item, then, to be mentioned as indis- 

 pensable to the successful organization and working of the 

 botanical department of the College, is a fund of fifty thou- 

 sand dollars, the income of which may serve as the active 

 capital of the establishment. This would be used principally 



