September 4, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



287 



and it is more efficient for these purposes 

 than a park, as it is more completely- 

 developed and liberally maintained. Its in- 

 direct, but equally important, philanthropic 

 operation is through the discovery and 

 dissemination of facts concerning plants and 

 their products, obtained through the studies 

 of the scientific staff and by others using 

 the scientific equipment. 



NUMBEK AND DISTRIBUTION OF BOTANICAL 

 GARDENS. 



There are somewhat over 200 institutions 

 denominated botanical gardens, but only a 

 few of them meet the requirements of the 

 foregoing sketch. Some are essentially 

 pleasure parks, with the plants more or less 

 labeled ; most of them pay some attention 

 to taxonomy and morphology ; many to 

 economic botany ; while a small number are 

 admirably equipped in all branches of 

 the science. 



I have drawn freely on Prof. Penhallow's 

 first annual report of the Montreal Botan- 

 ical Garden, published in 1886, for the 

 following approximate statement of the 

 number in different countries : 



Algeria, 1. 

 Australia, 5. 

 Austro-Hungary, 13. 

 Belgium, 5. 

 Brazil, 2. 

 Canada, 1. 

 Canary Islands, 1. 

 Cape of Good Hope, 3. 

 Ceylon, 1. 

 Chili, 1. 

 China, 1. 

 Cochin China, 1. 

 Denmark, 2. 

 Ecuador, 1. 

 Egypt, 1. 

 France, 22. 

 Germany, 36. 



Italy, 23. 



Japan, 1. 



Java, 1. 



Malta, 1. 



Mauritius, 1. 



Natal, 1. 



New Zealand, 1. 



Norway, 1. 



Peru, 1. 



Philippine Islands, 1. 



Portugal, 3. 



Reunion, 1. 



Roumania, 2. 



Eussia, 16. 



Servia, 1. 



Siberia, 1. 



Spain, 2. 



Great Britain and Ireland, 12.Straits Settlements, 1. 

 Greece, 1. Sweden, 6. 



Guatemala, 1. Switzerland, 4. 



Guiana, 1. Tasmania, 1. 



Holland, 4. United States, 10. 



India, 7. West Indies, 6. 



NOTES ON SOME FOREIGN GARDENS. 



1, Buitenzorg, Java. This is the largest 

 botanical garden, occupying some 1100 

 acres, at altitudes from sea level to about 

 6000 feet. It was founded by the Dutch 

 government in 1817, and has been well sup- 

 ported. Affording as it does highly favor- 

 able conditions for the growth of tropical 

 and subtropical plants under natural con- 

 ditions, it has yielded most important re- 

 sults, especially in taxonomy and plant 

 physiology, many of which have been pub- 

 lished in the ten large volumes of its ' An- 

 nales.' 



2. The Eoyal Botanic Gardens at Kew 

 are situated on the south bank of the 

 Thames, about 6 miles west of Hyde Park 

 Corner. They are reached by several rail- 

 way routes, the time from Charing Cross 

 being about 40 minutes, by steamer, and by 

 omnibus lines. The present area of the 

 gardens is about 260 acres, an addition 

 having been made during the past year. 

 These world-famed gardens originated in 

 the exotic garden of Lord Capel, in 1759. 

 In 1840 they were adopted as a national 

 establishment and opened as a public park. 

 The botanic garden proper occupies about 

 70 acres, and the remainder is given to 

 arboretum and pleasure grounds. There 

 are two main greenhouses : 1 . The palm 

 house, 362 feet long, the central dome ris- 

 ing 66 feet ; 2. The temperate house, of 

 which the central portion is 212 feet long, 

 137 feet broad, and about 60 feet high, 

 flanked by wings which give a total length 

 of about 580 feet, the whole covering be- 

 tween one and one and one-half acres of 

 ground. There are also fourteen other 

 houses, grouped in two ranges and more or 

 less connected, given to special collections. 

 There are three botanical museums: 1. 

 Devoted to economic products ; 2. to mis- 

 cellaneous products ; 3. to timbers. There 

 is also a large museum hall given to the ex- 

 hibition of floral paintings by the late Mari- 



