532 



BOTANIC GARDEN 



BOTANY 



sorts are designated by labels of different rolor from 

 tlu>se of intn>duoed speeics. (3) Morpholosiciil Sec- 

 tion, with divisions of (a) External Anatomy and (6) 

 Comparative Morpholojy. (4) Ecological Section, 

 adjacent to !\nd including the sviamp section of the 

 brvx>k and extending back to include a <hy knoll. Hero 

 is illustrateil the adjustment of plants to environmental 

 influences. (5) Evolution Section, illustrating such 

 subjects as variation, inlierilance, artificial ami natural 

 selection (including the origin of horticultural forms), 

 struggle for existence, and survival of the fittest. (0) 

 Economic Section with divisions of (li) Foods and Con- 

 diments, (6) Medicinal and l'oi.sonous Plants, and (c) 

 Fiber Plants. (7) Weed Section, to show the botanical 

 chanict eristics of weeds, ;vs bearing on their economic 

 signitioance. (S) Formal (iarden Section, in front of 

 the laboratory building and greenhouses, and serving to 

 illustrate the uses of plants, chiefly horticultural, for 

 purely ornamental purposes. (9) Arboretum, a col- 

 lection of trees, chiefly native. (10) Fruticetum, a col- 

 lection of shrubs, both native and exotic. The arbore- 

 tum and fruticetimi features are developed in close 

 connection with the other sections, and in the syste- 

 matic garden the aim has been to group the shrubs and 

 trees as near as iiracticable to the herbaceous material 

 with which they are most closely related. The willows 

 and alders are grown along the brook. 



The CJardcn i.ssues an administrative quarterly, "The 

 Hrookh-n Botanic Garden Record" (the April number of 

 which contains the Annual Report), Contributions, 

 and Guides. A series of Memoirs and of Educational 

 Leaflets is also projected. Admission to the grounds is 

 free daily, including Sundays and holidays, from 8 a.m. 

 until sunset. The Garden is supported by annual munic- 

 ipal approjiriations, by the income from an endowment, 

 amounting at present to over $.50,0(X), and by gifts. 



Suggeslions from the foregoing. 



As may be inferred from what has preceded, the his- 

 torj- of botanical gardens has shown a steady progress- 

 ive development from collections of medicinal herbs, 

 gathered and studied with reference to their economic 

 uses, to institutions endeavoring to maintain collections 

 of all kinds of plants, both herbaceous and woody, 

 some ornamental and useful, but perhaps most of them 

 collected and studied for their own sake, from the stand- 

 point of pure science, with an endeavor to understand 

 the nature as well as the uses of plants. The Chelsea 

 Garden affords a concrete illustration of this, for while 

 the collections here were at first almost entirely confined 

 to medicinal plants, these now form only a compara- 

 tively small portion of the collections. In this way, and 

 in this way onlj-, may botanical science be most rapidly 

 and mo.st surely advanced, to the advantage not only 

 of pure science itself, but of horticulture, agriculture, 

 forestn,', pharmacologj', and all phases of apphed 

 botanical science. 



It was one of the marks of greatness and of sound 

 judgment of Sir William Hooker, that he aimed defi- 

 nitely to make Kew Gardens not only a scientific insti- 

 tution of the first rank, but to make them beautiful, — 

 attractive to the general public. This latter aim has 

 been Urn often neglec-ted or mininjized, on the theory 

 that a botanic garden is a scientific institution, and 

 should, therefore, be develo[)ed with little regard for 

 the non-scientific public. This is an unfortunate and 

 unfair attitude, unfair to the general public, espe- 

 cially in those gardens which are supported in part 

 by public money, and unfortunate for Ijotanical science 

 becau.se it not only neglects a ver>' im[)ortant aspect of 

 U)tany — applied botany, — but loses the opportunity of 

 enli.fting the intelligent sympathy of the community 

 with botanical endeavor. Many persons who might 

 otherwi.sf: remain quite indifferent to botanical work in 

 general, or even to the work of a given garden in 

 particular, may, through being attracted primarily by 



the beauty of the collections and grounds, be led to give 

 generous support to such work, or even to discover that 

 their own main interest is botany, and ultimately to 

 advance the science by their own studies. 



It is unfortunate that the United States government 

 has n<i nal it)nal garden to do for our own country what 

 Kew has done for ICngland. The climate and location 

 of Washington combine to make the capital city an 

 admirable i)lace for the development of a botanic gar- 

 den, and two or three branch gardens could be estab- 

 lished to advantage in jjarts of the country, giving 

 wide diversity of climatic conditions, such as one of 

 the extreme southern states, the great American desert, 

 and one of the most northern states. 



With only very little additional expense, many city 

 parks could be made more interesting and instructive, 

 and none the less beautiful and attractive, by giving 

 Ijotions of them more the character of a botanic gar- 

 den, at least by suitably labeling the trees and shrubs 

 and growing them with some regard to botanical 

 affinities. 



With the exception of the Missouri Botanical Gar- 

 den, there is nowhere offered in the United States a 

 thorough course of study for the purpose of training 

 gardeners to take charge of botanic gardens. The 

 training received in a few months' experience with 

 a conmiercial florist or seedsman is not sufficient, nor 

 do horticultural courses in our agricultural colleges 

 answer the purpose. Botanic gardens need for garden- 

 ers, and especially for head-gardeners, men 

 whose training has included not only in- 

 struction in the care and management of 

 greenhouses, and in plant-propagation and 

 cultivation, but akso a thorough laboratory 

 course in the elementary principles of 

 botany, a course in systematic botany, 

 including the collection and identification 

 of a minimiun number of wild plants, an 

 elementary course in plant pathology, with 

 emphasis on methods of treatment, a 

 course in the physics and biology of soils, 

 and also in such .specialized work as acces- 

 sioning and labeling. The general educa- 

 tion of men for these positions ought also 

 to be such as to enable 

 them to express them- 

 selves well in WTiting, 

 and to give courses of 

 instruction to others in 

 the various practical 

 phases of their work, 

 such as greenhouse 

 economy, plant - pro- 

 pagation, and the care 

 of herbaceous and 

 woody plants out-of- 

 doors. The recent suc- 

 cess of a number of popular books 

 on gardening indicates a rather 

 widespread demand for such infor- 

 mation on the part of amateurs 

 and people of comparative leisure, 

 as well as others. It is much 

 better to get this information in 

 connection with t,he actual opera- 

 tions of a scienf ilically aflmini.s- 

 tered botanic garden, rather than 

 by tlie wholly inadequate method 

 of reading a book on the subject. 

 C. Stuart Gager. 



BOTANY. The science that 

 treats of plants; plant-knowledge. 

 In its widest sen.se, and properly, 

 it includes iimch that, by common 

 con.sent, is usually included in 



^^■P 



604. Botrychium 



obliquum. {XI?) 



