THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM. 

 By Edward I. Farrington, Weymouth Heights, Mass. 



Delivered before the Society, with stereopticon illustrations, January 12, 



1918. 



"For a thousand years and then another thousand years, and 

 so on forever," reads the solemn agreement by which the City of 

 Boston enters into contract with Harvard University to care for 

 and perpetuate the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, undoubt- 

 edly the greatest tree museum in the world. Curiously enough, 

 the great majority of people, even in Boston, know nothing about 

 the Arboretum or its purposes. This is distinctly unfortunate, for 

 the loss is not the Arboretum's, but that of the public which should 

 profit by its work and enjoy its beauty. 



Expert landscape gardeners and nurserymen know the Arbore- 

 tum as a clearing house of knowledge. They use it. The Arnold 

 Arboretum is the only place in this country where data on the 

 comparative hardiness of woody plants covering a long period of 

 years can be found. Perhaps if the Arboretum were not so modest 

 about tooting its own horn, it would receive greater credit for what 

 it has done. Within its borders nature is working miracles which 

 must have a profound effect on all gardens of the future. Every 

 fruit grower has an interest in the Arboretum. Future years will 

 ^ield finer Apples and Pears and Peaches than any you yet have 

 tasted. They may come from crosses with Chinese trees intro- 

 duced by Arboretum explorers. 



We know little so far about the possibilities of nuts as a food. 

 Yet the time may come, and before long, too, when the whole world 

 will be eating nuts. Practically every nut tree which will grow in 

 this climate is now to be found in the Arnold Arboretum. 



As for its value to the home gardens of the country, nobody can 

 estimate it. Every plant brought from foreign lands — and they 

 number thousands — if suited to this climate, is tested and re- 



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