174 



Dr. Greene removed to Notre Dame late in 1914. It was an 

 occasion of deep regret to many of us. There was not only 

 the personal. loss to those of us who were his friends, but also 

 the more general loss to science which was entailed in the re- 

 moval of his collections from Washington. 



■ During the ten years of his connection with the National 

 Museum, the Library of the Department of Agriculture was 

 being built up, so that there were really not a very large number 

 of books in Dr. Greene's collection at the end of the option 

 period that were not elsewhere available in Washington, It 

 must always, however, be regarded as a great misfortune for 

 the nation and a piece of great good fortune for the University 

 of Notre Dame that the government did not take advantage 

 of its option to secure the herbarium, which contains hundreds, 

 if not thousands, of type specimens. 



On the occasion of Dr. Greene's seventieth birthday the 

 Botanical Society of Washington arranged to present him with a 

 book-plate. He had lon,g intended to have one, for his books 

 w^ere marked with an anything but artistic printed slip which 

 had been pasted in them at the time his library was placed on 

 deposit at the Smithsonian Institution. The plate was designed 

 by Mr. Krieger, following Dr. Greene's own ideas. He was very 

 much pleased when it was finally done and turned over to him 

 and expressed his intention of ackowledging it at a meeting of 

 the Society. He wrote out with some care the remarks which 

 he intended to make but I find among his papers only a few pre- 

 liminary jottings on rough scraps of paper: 



"I take great pleasure in saying that in the interval which 

 has passed since our last meeting and this one, I have received 

 the book-plate for my library, which the Society had the kind- 

 ness to accord me, on the occasion of its most cordial celebration 

 of my septenary last year. I regard the gift as a most beautiful 

 piece of art, and it is all the more prized as being an expression 

 of the appreciation and good will on your part which I had no 

 reason that I know of to look for, and which I wish I had better 

 deserved at your hands. Of the library itself, however, few if 

 any among you know all its merits. It is the pioneer among 



