JOURNAL 
OF 
The New York Botanical Garden 
Vor. I. May, 1900. No. 5. 
THE LABORATORIES. 
WitH PrLaTE IV. 
A botanical garden serves two general educational purposes. 
One important function consists in the dissemination of, informa- 
tion concerning the form, mode of life, habit and general biolog- 
ical relations of the Spcpal types of vegetation. The special 
relation of plants to man is also made prominent by attention to 
the horticultural and economic phases of the subject. To carry 
out this purpose most efficiently, the museums, collections and 
plantations are arranged to present the Principal facts in such 
as to b 
cies of the same sas of oS life is made by means 
may 
be burdened with the task of bringing out the technical ns 
of investigations without impairing their usefulness 
he material accumulated for the exploitation a the popular 
knowledge of plants also affords an excellent basis for the induc- 
tion of students into the more technical aspects of botany, and 
when supplemented by laboratories furnished with apparatus, 
microscopes and other instruments of precision, the activities of 
these students may be carried beyond the frontiers of the subject, 
interpretation, or in the discovery of new facts which may make 
a readjustment of current generalizations necessary. This ex- 
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