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BRIEFER AR Tig, 
NOTES OF TRAVEL. VI." 
THE BOTANICAL INSTITUTE OF NETHERLANDS INDIA. 
THE gardens of Buitenzorg, Java, have been described so often that 
their name should by this time be familiar to every American botanist, 
The institution has grown so rapidly in the last few years, however, that 
a short description of the improvements made may be of interest to 
any one who expects to visit Java, and to all who are interested in the 
development of tropical botany. Although the Institute bears the name 
“botanical,” it has many decided agricultural features, and on account 
of its various divisions and the nature of the subjects under investiga- 
tion would be called by many Americans a most unusually well 
equipped station. 
The impression made upon the writer in 1896, during an eight 
months stay in these gardens, was that they offered unrivaled oppor- 
tunities for study, a wealth of interesting material, and surroundings 
full of the most interesting oriental sights. After three years’ absence, 
much of which time has been spent in a study of other botanical gar- 
dens and institutions, I find that Buitenzorg still possesses the charm 
and offers even greater opportunities than in 1896. During the last three 
years, under Dr. Treub’s excellent management, five new buildings have 
been erected. They consist of a double laboratory in which tobacco and 
coffee are investigated, a very comfortable pharmaceutical laboratory, 
a new library building which now holds the most complete collection of 
botanical works in the tropics, a luxuriously appointed office building, 
and a very pretty tropical bungalo for Dr. Treub. The censtruction of 
the laboratories is very substantial. They are all one story buildings 
with concrete floors, projecting tile roofs, and numerous large windows 
which in this latitude let in a flood of light and require white shades. 
Tables, desks, cases, and shelves are kept scrupulously clean and neat, 
and in this regard are in strong contrast with most tropical institutes, 
in which a musty smell pervades everything. Dr. Treub has given in 
the first number of his Bulletin de l’ Institut Botanique de Buttenzorg, 
published in December of 1898, an excellent sketch of the gardens and 
*No, 5 of this series was lost in transit.—ED. 
Igor] 423 
