644 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 800 



as establishing herbaceous flowering plants 

 in plots among collections 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 er- 

 ratic ecological conceptions. Flower gar- 

 dens, as such, are generally located sepa- 

 rately from the botanically grouped planta- 

 tions, for in them esthetic considerations 

 are predominant. 



The popularity of botanical gardens 

 causes them at times to be over-crowded 

 and problems relative to the control and 

 circulation of large numbers of people arise 

 which have to be met as well as possible. 

 A comprehensive system of paths is essen- 

 tial; 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 con- 

 siderations wholly neglected. A very small 

 proportion of the public is intuitively de- 

 structive, 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 pro- 

 clivities is the only treatment available. 

 In large gardens a driveway system and 

 provision for conveyances for hire are also 

 desirable, for many visitors are unable or 

 unwilling to walk considerable distances. 



The indirect relation of botanical gar- 

 dens 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 adjuncts to the garden itself, and 

 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 eco- 

 nomic 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. 

 From what I have said it will be clear 

 that the function of botanical gardens in 

 their relation to the public is somewhat dif- 

 ferent from their relations to college and 

 university students, although, after all, 

 this difference is one of degree rather than 

 of kind. 



N. L. Britton 



THE PLACE OP BOTANICAL GARDENS IN 

 COLLEGIATE INSTRUCTION 



The splendid gardens under the direc- 

 tion of my predecessors in this discussion 

 are well known to everybody, but this can 

 not be true of the modest one of which I 

 have charge. It will therefore be fairer to 

 my comments on the subject if I say that it 

 has been my duty, during the past fifteen 

 years, to develop at Smith College, with 

 due regard to reasonable financial restric- 

 tions, a garden which should be as well 

 adapted as possible to collegiate instruc- 

 tion. It now includes these parts. First, 

 there is an arboretum and fruticetum, of 

 some 500 species, distributed, with regard 

 partly to scientific arrangement and partly 

 to pleasing landscape effects, over a campus 

 of some thirty acres. Second, there is an 

 herbaceous garden of some 700 species, ar- 

 ranged on the Engler and Prantl system. 

 Third, there are three natural gardens, a 

 rock garden, water garden and wild garden, 

 the last as yet too young to be effective. 

 Fourth, there is a range of well-built and 

 suitably stocked greenhouses, nine in num- 

 ber with two attached laboratories. Upon 

 the development of this garden rests my 

 qualification for the part I have in this 

 discussion. Naturally, it approximates to 

 my idea of what a college botanical garden 



