BOTANICAL GARDENS 951 



growth of population around the areas may not be an immediate serious 

 handicap to the successful conduct of gardens therein, but sooner or later 

 the unnatural conditions of urban environment will deleteriously affect the 

 well-being of many species of plants. The Missouri Botanical Garden has 

 partially met this condition and made adequate provision for the future by 

 securing a very large tract of land approximately forty miles outside the 

 city. The zoning of modern cities will make decisions as to location more 

 secure and reliable than was possible in past years. 



Size of Site. 



No rule can be laid down that will be a reliable guide with respect to 

 the size of an area that should be secured for a botanical garden. Most 

 of the gardens in connection with colleges and universities, where gardens 

 are maintained primarily for scientific purposes, cover only a comparatively 

 few acres. The Harvard University Botanical Garden has an area of seven 

 acres. However, if the Arnold Arboretum of the university is considered 

 in connection with this, the total area equals approximately two hundred 

 and forty-seven acres. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden covers fifty acres and 

 the Missouri Botanical Garden approximately seventy-five acres in the 

 City of St. Louis, while outside the city a tract of about thirteen hundred 

 acres has been purchased for an extension garden. The New York Botanical 

 Garden comprises almost four hundred acres. If a garden is limited to 

 growing of herbaceous plants and at the most to only a few trees and shrubs, 

 and site or sites for the necessary structures, it is possible that a compara- 

 tively small acreage will suffice. If an extensive arboretum is included in 

 the plan the acreage should be very much larger. With respect to the 

 number of collections and the elaborateness of structural equipment, both 

 of which will in a more or less degree determine the size of the area needed, 

 the final determination, in the last analysis, is the amount of money which 

 any community is willing to invest in capital outlays and operation and 

 maintenance of a botanical garden. 



Factors in Design. 



Like all other areas comprehended within a modern park system a 

 botanical garden must in its design be so arranged as to most readily facili- 

 tate the human use purposes for which it is intended. In general, this 

 involves a system of paths and service driveways which will facilitate the 

 movement of the people about the garden, with the exception of pure 

 pleasure driveways which should be excluded; a systematic arrangement of 

 plants both outdoors and indoors to facilitate their study both from a 

 popular and scientific viewpoint; the location and erection of certain struc- 

 ures necessary for the propagation and care of young plants; the care of 



