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display the plant in its natural form, so that extensive massing of 
individuals is avoided, although, in large gardens space is often 
available for both massed and open planting. In the grouped 
plantations incongruous elements should be avoided, such as 
establishing herbaceous flowering plants in plots among collec- 
tions of trees and shrubs, which would divert attention from the 
main installation, or the introducing of exotic species into natural 
woodlands and thickets, which would give the public erratic 
ecological conceptions. Flower gardens, as such, are generally 
located separately from the botanically grouped plantations, for 
in them aesthetic considerations are predominant. 
The popularity of botanical gardens causes them at times to 
be overcrowded and problems relative. to the control and circu- 
lation of large numbers of people arise which have to be met as 
well as possible. A comprehensive system of paths is essential ; 
the majority of visitors instinctively keep to the paths, but it is 
undesirable in large gardens, at least, to actually restrict visitors 
to paths, for they could then come close to only a relatively small 
number of the plants installed, unless the path system was unduly 
elaborated and landscape considerations wholly neglected. 
very small proportion of the public is intuitively destructive, and 
it is this small number of people that entail high expense for 
guards and keepers ; legal punishment of offenders as a warning 
to others of mischievous proclivities is the only treatment avail- 
able. In large gardens a driveway system and provision for 
conveyances for hire are also desirable, for many visitors are un- 
able or unwilling to walk considerable distances. 
The indirect relation of botanical gardens to the public lies in 
their function of adding to the knowledge of plants and plant 
products and the diffusion of this knowledge by publication and 
otherwise. Laboratories, herbaria and a library are essential ad- 
juncts to the garden itself, aad through investigations carried on 
in them and in the garden, additions to knowledge are constantly 
made. Of these additions to botanical information those of an 
economic character are the most immediately available for the 
public good, but the more theoretical additions to information 
may prove the more important in the long run. 
