610 



SCIENCE, 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 120. 



charge feel that the investment of time, 

 money and labor has paid for itself, for the 

 interest we have aroused has been an in- 

 spiration to all of us and, we think, to many 

 others. It has shown that science has a 

 very strong hold upon the public and that 

 the public appreciate the work of abstruse 

 science, whether or not it shows immediate 

 results from an economic standpoint. 



RicHAED E. Dodge. 



THE MISSOURI BOIANICAL OABDEN* 

 During the year 1896 the ornamental 

 features of the Garden were of the same 

 general character as heretofore, and about 

 the same number of species and nearly the 

 same of individuals were cultivated for this 

 purpose, in the open air, as in 1895. The 

 house collections, on the other hand, espe- 

 cially that of orchids, have been considera- 

 bly increased, both in size and variety. A 

 conservative estimate by the Head Gardener 

 shows that at present about two and one- 

 half times as many species and named 

 varieties of plants are cultivated as in 1889. 

 At the end of 1895 an inventory of the 

 plants in cultivation at the Garden showed 

 that 3921 species and varieties other than 

 annuals were cultivated at that time. Dur- 

 ing the past year, while considerable addi- 

 tions have been made, it is probable that 

 certain species have dropped out of cultiva- 

 tion, so that in the absence of a special in- 

 ventory it is possible to state merely that 

 the number now in cultivation is unques- 

 tionably somewhat greater than that in 

 1895. 



It is estimated that, for various temporary 

 reasons, the number of visitors to the Gar- 

 den during 1896 was scarcely as large as in 

 the preceding year. On the open Sunday 

 afternoon in June 10,598 persons passed 

 the gate, and on the corresponding Sunday 

 afternoon in September 13,589 visitors were 



*From advance sheets of the eighth annual report 

 of the Director, Professor Wm. Trelease. 



counted. So far as estimates can be made 

 from the data at hand, the number of visi- 

 tors to the Garden is now about one-half 

 greater than in 1889, though, as no auto- 

 matic register of visitors is kept at the gate, 

 the estimates are not accurate. 



As a result of the most destructive hail- 

 storm that has ever been experienced at the 

 Garden, some 6,000 lights of glass were 

 broken on tne 21st of May last, the falling 

 glass doing incalculable damage to many of 

 the plants, which were further exposed to 

 the weather for a considerable time. Cacti 

 and other plants which are sheltered under 

 glass during the winter, but which had 

 been placed in the rockeries and elsewhere 

 before the storm, were either destroyed or 

 so badly bruised that it is impossible even 

 yet to count the final loss. Some idea of 

 the force of the falling hail may be obtained 

 from the statement that the ribbed glass on 

 the roof of the Linnsean house, nearly a 

 quarter of an inch thick, was in consider- 

 able part broken. 



Closely following this storm, the tornado 

 of May 27th, which caused great loss of life 

 and property in and about St. Louis, dev- 

 astated a considerable portion of the Gar- 

 den. While the grounds, fortunately, were 

 not actually traversed by the cyclonic 

 funnel, but were exposed only to the strong 

 northwest gale which accompanied it, the 

 violence of the wind was such that a num- 

 ber of the structures on the grounds were 

 either unroofed or totally wrecked, while 

 some 450 trees, many of them of large size, 

 were totally or practically destroyed, and a 

 large percentage of those left standing were 

 seriously broken. A more graphic view of 

 the destruction of trees may be obtained 

 from the statement that 186 cords of fire- 

 wood have been prepared from the more 

 workable trunks and larger branches of the 

 trees removed. Aside from the direct in- 

 jury, it is probable that no small number of 

 those left have suffered from unwonted ex- 



