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absolutely necessary to determine the plants of one's own en- 

 vironment and to be able to recognize species new to science. 

 The determination of plant species is by no means the sole factor 

 in botanical work, but is of subsidiary importance. An herbarium 

 may be consulted for a particular specimen, the name of which 

 may be known beforehand in order to compare its structure with 

 other forms, or to ascertain the relationship of an unknown plant. 



The herbarium may be compared to a great illustrated volume, 

 to the pages of which the botanist refers daily in quest of in- 

 formation. The administration of such an herbarium may be 

 paralleled in the management of an office, as that of registry of 

 deeds. 



The herbarium of this Board is not extended indefinitely be- 

 yond the borderlands of the Pacific, but comprises only such 

 Floras as are closely related with the Flora of these Islands. 

 Only in a few cases it was found necessary to have Floras, such 

 as of Mauritius and other islands having an insular Flora, for of 

 island floras botanists distinguish two kinds, "insular" and "con- 

 tinental" floras. 



As research in Hawaii is not limited to certain fields of sys- 

 tematic botany, as forest trees, but also is extended to grasses 

 and pulses, it was found necessary to make the herbarium general 

 in its scope, and it was desired that it should contain all the lower 

 Cryptogams, as well as Phanerogams, for purposes of instruc- 

 tion and in order to give a general conspectus of the plants of 

 these Islands. An herbarium should be looked upon, not as a 

 show piece or an accomplished task, but as a growing and work- 

 ing mechanism that will return daily a large interest by way of 

 instruction and research upon the capital invested in its establish- 

 ment and maintenance. 



It being an impossibility to conduct such work without facilities 

 for publication, it therefore may not be out of place to make a 

 few general remarks regarding such. The dissemination of 

 knowledge about plants is the very essence of botanical research 

 activity. Unless the results of research are made known to the 

 scientific world through some precise announcement, they are of 

 no value whatsoever. 



A station like the Board of Agriculture and Forestry should 

 be engaged in the publication of original scientific investigations, 

 as well as of popular or semi-popular treatises, such as lists of 

 stock-poisoning plants, pests, etc., occurring in the Territory, 

 with ample illustrations in order to enable the ranchman to 

 recognize his enemies and deal with them accordingly. 



It is indeed of the greatest importance and advantage for an 

 establishment of this kind to control its own publication to the 

 extent of at least one or two bulletins, thus giving it the oppor- 



