( 126) 
soon after the commencement of the last century. After 
half a century of natural growth several large herbaria were 
incorporated in it and large sets of special collections were 
added to it. The Garden herbarium was begun with the 
inception of the Garden. It has grown rapidly and now 
far excels the Columbia herbarium in the number of speci- 
mens. The rapid growth of the Garden herbarium and its 
importance is due to the fact that it is built up of approxi- 
mately thirty different herbaria which represent plants of 
all groups from all parts of the globe. To this as a basis 
have been added miscellaneous collections and the first 
sets of the plants secured by members of the Garden staff 
while exploring in different parts of the New World and 
the Old. 
The great majority of specimens are mounted on her- 
barium sheets, but many thousand specimens, such as 
bulky fungi, fruits, seeds, and other parts of plants not 
suitable for placing flat on herbarium sheets are contained 
in cardboard boxes of multiple sizes. 
The herbarium now comprises more than one and 
one-half million specimens. All groups of the flowerless 
plants and flowering plants are copiously represented. 
THE LABORATORIES 
Laboratories and working rooms for research are pro- 
vided on the upper floor of the museum building, and prop- 
erly qualified students of botany are permitted to make use 
of this equipment, under the direction of some member of 
the staff of the Garden. The equipment is designed to meet 
the needs of a very broad field of investigation, including 
plant chemistry, pathology, physiology and morphology. 
An experimental garden and greenhouse at the nurseries 
are used in connection with the laboratories. A valuable 
series of old microscopes, illustrating the history and de- 
velopment of that instrument, was presented by the late 
Mr. Charles F. Cox. 
