ARBORETUM 



ARBORETUM 



349 



shrul)Sof exceptional size and beauty; but 

 witli the cliantce of owners this, like most 

 private collections of trees in the United 

 States, is probably destined to suffer from 

 neglect or to entirely disappear. 



In Highland Park, Rochester, New 

 "^'ork, on sroinids admirably situated for 

 the purpose, the park department of that 

 city has established an arboretum which 

 contains one of the largest collections of 

 trees and shrubs in the United States and 

 which, situated as it is in a great center 

 of commercial horticulture, cannot fail to 

 become a powerful factor in horticultural 

 education. Equally important in etluca- 

 tional possibilities is the excellent arbo- 

 retmn which has been established by the 

 Goverimient of the Dominion of Canada 

 on its Central Experimental Farm at 

 Ottawa. Placed in a region of great winter 

 cold, the lessons which the Ottawa Arbo- 

 retmii can teach of the hardiness of plants 

 will be of special value to Canada and to 

 the northern borders of the United States. 



The influence of .\jnerican nurserymen 

 by their introduction and multipUcation 

 of trees and shrubs mu.st not be over- 

 looked, and American lovers and students 

 of trees will always gratefully remember 

 such names as Kenrick and Hovey of 

 Massachusetts, Price and Parsons of Long 

 Island, EUwanger and Barry of Rochester, 

 New York, Thomas Meehan of Pennsyl- 

 ^•ania, Berckmans of Georgia, and Robert 

 Douglas of Illinois. The arboreta which 

 they planted in connection with their nur- 

 series offered in their time valuable object 

 lessons, and the influences of their pub- 

 lications are often of lasting value. 



The Arnold Arborclum. Figs. 309-311. 



It has been left to Harvard University 

 to establish an arboretum on a large scale 

 and in a manner which seems destined to 

 make it permanent. This arboretmii owes 

 its origin to Mr. James Arnold, a mer- 

 chant of New Bedford who died in 1S(5S, 

 leaving to the trustees of his estate .$100,000 

 to be devoted to the advancement of agri- 

 culture or horticulture. One of these trus- 

 tees was George B. Emerson, the author 

 of "The Report on the Trees and Shrubs 

 of Massachusetts." Mr. Emerson, realiz- 

 ing the benefit which the world might 

 derive from the establishment of a scien- 

 tifically managed collection of trees in the 

 neighborhood of Boston, proposed to turn 

 over Mr. Arnold's legacy to the President 

 and Fellows of Harvard College to be used 

 to fievelop and maintain an arboretum, 

 provided they would devote to this pur- 

 pf)sc a part of the farm in West Roxbury 

 wliich had been given to the university by 

 Mr. Benjamin Bussey. This plan was 

 carried out in 1872, and V2'i acres were 

 set aside for the .Arnold Arboretum, in 

 which the University undertook to grow a 

 specimen of everj- tree and shrub able to 

 support the climate of eastern Massachu- 

 setts. In December, 1882, a contract was 

 made between the university and the city 

 of Boston under which the city agreed to 

 add certain adjoining lands to the arbo- 

 retum, to construct and maintain under 

 the din'ction of its park commi.ssion a 

 system of carriage-drives and walks 



