132 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1891. 



City shall be the first to establish similar gardens here, and not 

 let Philadelphia, Boston or any other city get ahead of her in 

 this respect. He certainly could not have learned that, second 

 only to the Eoyal Botanical gardens at Kew, will be the 

 Missouri Botanical gardens begun by the late Henry Shaw, and 

 for whose completion and maintenance he has left a legacy of 

 three millions of dollars. These gardens if completed will give 

 a chance for study and research which will supply the long-felt 

 need of horticulturists. 



The explorations of Mexican and other adjacent regions early 

 in this century, resulted in great additions to the number of 

 varieties previously shown in Europe, of one kind of tiower 

 alone — the cactus. In 1796, only twenty-nine species had been 

 found; in 1850, 670 species were known, and now over 1000 

 species are distinguished. Not only have our own botanists 

 made these reseaches but celebrated travellers like Kalm and 

 Michaux, Jussieu and Humboldt in earlier days, and Wright, 

 Brewer and Andre, in the present generation have made expedi- 

 tions to America for the sole purpose of collecting specimens of 

 the new plants, on this side of the Atlantic. Will such men as 

 these dare to say that America has accorded no benefits to the 

 horticulture of the world? 



The herbarium of Humboldt alone which contained 3500 new 

 specimens shows that the discovery of the West Indies, in 

 1492, certainly opened new and rich l)otanical store-houses. 



Horticulturists of the present day will not soon forget the 

 suflerings and hardships of the late Charles C. Parry as he 

 crossed the California Desert from San Dieoo to the mouth of 

 the Gihi River, and unfolded to the world the floral treasure of 

 the western and southwestern parts of the United States. 



On authority, it is stated, that the number of species of 

 flowering plants and higher cryptogams indigenous to the 

 United States is twelve thousand, and that that is practically the 

 number for North America. Adding to these the known indige- 

 nous plants of South America, and imagining what may be 

 reserved for us to discover, in the future, we may not hesitate 

 to conclude that we have added no mean contribution to the 

 world's flora. 



