290 



SCIENCE. 



[N. iS. Vol. IV. No. 88. 



I 



There is a vast collection of tropical plants 

 in cultivation, an extensive botanical library 

 and herbarium, and a small laboratory. 

 The garden publishes 'Annual Eeports' 

 and ' Bulletin,' dealing especially with 

 topics of economic application. 



12. The Botanical Department of Ja- 

 maica, West Indies, operates extensive gar- 

 dens at Kingston, smaller ones at Castle- 

 ton, and the several large Cinchona planta- 

 tions . The scientific collections and library 

 are valuable. The department publishes 

 ' Annual Eeports ' and ' Bulletin,' espe- 

 cially devoted to economic botany. 



13. McGill University, at Montreal, Que- 

 bec, carries on a small botanical garden in 

 connection with its laboratories . The Mont- 

 real Botanic Garden, begun in 1885 on about 

 seventy-five acres of ground in Mount Eoyal 

 Park, was soon abandoned, owing to politi- 

 cal complications. 



14. Among other foreign gardens of which 

 mention must be made, and of which a de- 

 scription would be interesting if our time 

 allowed, are those at Munich, Wiirzburg, 

 Tiibingen, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Upsala, 

 Zurich, Calcutta and Oxford. 



BOTANICAL GARDENS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



The first botanical garden established in 

 America was begun by John Bartram in 

 Philadelphia, in 1728. In it he placed a 

 considerable number of plants obtained in 

 the course of his extensive travels. The 

 plot still remains, including the family 

 homestead, somewhat modified, and it is a 

 pleasure to know that it will be preserved 

 as public ground. 



Andre Michaux, in the latter part of the 

 last century, planted gardens at Charleston, 

 S. C, and New Durham, IST. J., but they 

 were essentially nurseries from which he 

 sent seeds and plants to Europe. 



In the year 1801 Dr. David Hosack, 

 then professor of botany and materia medica 

 in Columbia College, purchased twenty 



acres of ground in New York city, and 

 called it the Elgin Botanic Garden ; in 

 this tract he accumulated, with great labor 

 during the next ten years, a very large and 

 valuable collection of plants. The institu- 

 tion was transferred to the State of New 

 York, through an act of the Legislature, in 

 1810, and was then known as the Botanic 

 Garden of the State of New York. It was 

 subsequently granted to Columbia College. 

 Funds for its maintenance were not pro- 

 vided, however, and it was ultimately 

 abandoned. Two catalogues of its plants 

 were issued by Dr. Hosack, one in 1806, 

 and another in 1811. The condition of bo- 

 tanical gardens in America at that time is 

 indicated by the following note in Dr. 

 Hosack's catalogue of 1806: 



" I learn, with pleasure, that a Botanic 

 Garden is proposed to be established near 

 Boston, and connected with the University 

 of Cambridge. The Legislature of Massa- 

 chusetts, with a munificence which does 

 them honor, have granted, for this purpose, 

 a tract of land, the value of which is esti- 

 mated at thirty thousand dollars; and 

 several individuals have evinced their 

 liberality and love of science by voluntary 

 subscriptions, to the amount of fifteen 

 thousand dollars, towards the establishment 

 and support of that institution. Another 

 is also begun at Charleston, S. C, and a 

 third is contemplated in New Jersey, in 

 connection with the College of Princeton." 



In the year 1824 there was published at 

 Lexington, Ky., the ' First Catalogues and 

 Circulars of the Botanical Garden of 

 Transylvania University at Lexington, 

 Ky., for the year 1824,' by W. H. Eich- 

 ardson, M. D., President of the Board 

 of Managers, and C. S. Eafinesque, Ph.D., 

 Secretary. This rare pamphlet, which is 

 not recorded in Dr. Call's very complete 

 life and writings of Eafinesque, is of 24 

 pages, and is printed alternately in English 

 and French. It is essentially an appeal for 



