143 



Lastly, there is the Torrey Botanical Club, which endeavors 

 to act as a central organization, representing in its membership 

 that of all the other active botanical organizations in the city. 

 Its present active membership numbers about 250, having in- 

 creased 25 per cent, during the present year. It publishes three 

 periodicals, holds two in-door meetings monthly, between October 

 and May inclusive, and field meetings each Saturday during the 

 season of plant growth. As has already been stated, an interest 

 in plants from any point of view is the only botanical qualifica- 

 tion required for membership, the nomination being made by 

 some member of the Club and approved by the committee on 

 admissions. 



Among botanical gardens, it is not out of place for us mentally 

 to include all the numerous and extensive horticultural establish- 

 ments which abound in and about New York, among the stock 

 of which is to be found such a great variety of plants of interest 

 from botanical considerations. The public parks of this city are 

 also to be justl)- regarded as affording important advantages for 

 botanical work. Acti\'e and enthusiastic botanists are connected 

 with them, and the planting, labelling and exhibiting are con- 

 ducted with a view to interesting the public in the scientific basis 

 of the work. The great collection of North American woods at 

 the American Museum deserves special mention. People in this 

 city who are interested in such subjects should also make them- 

 selves acquainted with the elaborate park system of Essex County, 

 New Jersey, which has been laid out and organized with studious 

 regard to future conditions and needs, and will undoubtedly de- 

 velop important botanical features as time goes on. 



Our own Botanical Garden you are to inspect to-day under 

 unusually favorable circumstances. Even this, however, will give 

 you but a very inadequate idea of the breadth and depth of its 

 organization and character. There is scarcely a department of 

 botanical work for the development of which provision is not 

 made, the several departments being under the care of accom- 

 plished specialists. As you go about the grounds and enjoy the 

 beautiful grades, the roads, walks, and bridges, you perhaps do 

 not realize the immensity of the task involved in bringing them 



