1896 | BOTANICAL OPPORTUNITY 201 
Except for a few standard instruments, I think it is not gener- 
ally recognized that this part of the facilities, however costly 
it may be, should be regarded as transient, perishable material, 
rather than a permanent equipment. The history of the most 
successful physiological laboratories in which delicate appara- 
tus is chiefly used furthermore shows that the most important 
results, as a rule, are not obtained by the use of commercial 
instruments, but by simple apparatus designed by the investi- 
gator to meet the precise needs of the problem with which he 
is busied, and usually constructed by him or his laboratory 
mechanic at very little cost. 
Although it seems comparatively easy to decide on the 
proper limits of library, herbarium, and instrumental equipment 
for a given institution, knowing its scope, situation, and resources, 
it is very difficult to arrive at as satisfactory a conclusion 
concerning the extent of the research garden. As a general 
thing such gardens are also intended to be useful in college 
work, or to afford pleasure and instruction to the public, so that 
they are likely to be heterogeneous almost of necessity, and usu- 
ally they are made far too comprehensive. More than any 
other class of facilities, garden plants require constant and 
€xpensive attention if they are to be kept in useful condition ; 
and with all of the care that can be given them they are forever 
performing the most inexplicable and unexpected gyrations 
with their labels, so that the collections grown in botanical gar- 
dens (because of their variety) are notoriously ill-named, 
though it would naturally be supposed that they, of all collec- 
tions, would be above suspicion in that respect. 
My object being to speak of facilities for research rather 
than education or entertainment, I ought to pass by this part of 
the Subject with a mere mention, but I can hardly dismiss it 
without comment. Where the only object is to supplement the 
facilities for undergraduate work, the scope of a garden can be 
very small or moderately large, according to the courses it is to 
help elucidate. It may be confined to what may be called a 
Propagating bed for plants needed in quantity, either in season 
