650 



SCIENCE 



[3S' . S. Vol. XXXI. No. 800 



groups of plants from the different forma- 

 tions of a general floristic region, but also, 

 where space permits, by like formations 

 from different regions. These should be as 

 complete as possible and may well be se- 

 lected to show similar growth-forms occur- 

 ring in •nddely different species, genera, or 

 even families. In Atlantic North America, 

 for instance, bits of Alaskan, Manchurian 

 or Scandinavian forest, in which all the 

 elements from the herbs of the forest floor 

 to the dominant trees are represented, 

 would prove exceedingly interesting for 

 comparison with our native forest and with 

 each other. 



6. Economic plants may be represented 

 by those plants which yield the chief vege- 

 table products of commerce, by types of 

 ornamental plants and by noxious plants, 

 e. g., weeds, poisonous plants and fungus 

 parasites. The practical application of 

 plant breeding may also be illustrated here 

 by examples showing the diiference often 

 existing between the wild parent and the 

 cultivated offspring, together with illustra- 

 tions of the methods of breeding and culti- 

 vation by which the modification of culti- 

 vated types is produced. 



These, I believe, are some of the facts 

 and principles which we may hope to illus- 

 trate in a botanical garden. The realiza- 

 tion of these expectations demands, I am 

 finding, persistent industry and unfailing 

 optimism, for obstacles arise unexpectedly, 

 and success in new fields is far from 

 certain. 



In the garden of the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, at Homewood, we are trying to do 

 some, at present not all, of the things which 

 I have just outlined. I wish now to try 

 to tell you just what these are, how we 

 have planned them and something of the 

 practical expedients by which we have 

 managed to get plants to grow where we 

 wish them. I may also refer to the devices 



for labeling which are being used, in the 

 attempt to make the garden intelligible not 

 only to the student, but also to the gen- 

 eral public, to whom the garden is open. 



The area at present planted at Home- 

 wood, the new university site, is a flat- 

 topped knoll, about two acres in extent, 

 surrounded on three sides by a native for- 

 est of oak, chestnut, beech and tulip. The 

 garden is laid out in a strictly formal man- 

 ner, in view of the fact that it is to form 

 the western termination of the transverse 

 axis of the proposed group of university 

 buildings. It will ultimately be overlooked 

 by the terrace on which the westernmost 

 buildings are to be located. 



The boundary of the garden is marked 

 by two parallel lines of hemlock hedge with 

 a wide walk between them. The entire 

 garden is divided into quarters by walks 

 running from the middle of each side to a 

 large pool in the center. Each quarter 

 is broken by gravel walks into 18 beds with 

 myrtle borders. These beds contain alto- 

 gether about 500 planting spaces (2J X 3^ 

 feet), making something over 2,000 plant- 

 ing spaces for the whole garden. The 

 greenhouse, physiological laboratory and 

 an acre of ground for propagating pur- 

 poses lie directly south of the garden. 



The garden consists of four sections. 

 Section I. illustrates the chief types of 

 vegetative organs of plants. The arrange- 

 ment of these types is in part a morpholog- 

 ical, in part a biological one. Section II. 

 is given to the illustration of the structure 

 and biology of the reproductive organs of 

 plants, i. e., of sporangia, flowers, seeds, 

 fruits, etc. Section III. illustrates the 

 genealogy of plants as indicated by their 

 classification. It includes illustrations of 

 the various kinds and degrees of kinship, 

 of species, genus and family, of hybrids 

 and mutants, of a number of historically 

 important systems of classification and of 



