352 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 445. 



Spruce lumber which has floated down the St. Lawrence 

 and reached Europe from Canada. 



As an ornamental tree the White Spruce is the best of the 

 whole genus to plant in Canada and our northern states. 

 Its value as an ornamental tree for the north is shown in 

 Prince Edward Island, where rows of this tree have been 

 planted by the roads crossing- the island, or have been left 

 standing when the forest-covering made way for tillage. 

 These trees, which are often of great size, are perfect in 

 form and color, with branches which often sweep the 

 ground, and compact pyramidal heads. Cultivated in the 

 northern states, the White Spruce flourishes as far south as 

 southern New England, growing to a large size, retaining 

 its lower branches and its dense habit for many years and 

 displaying great variations of color. Farther south it is 

 affected by heat, and often becomes distigured by the 

 attacks of red spiders. It is the best of all conifers for 

 northern wind-breaks and hedges, and it is unfortunate 

 that the Norway Spruce and other foreign trees of doubtful 

 value in our climate have been allowed to supersede the 

 White and Red Spruces in northern plantations. 



Our illustration on page 355, from a photograph made 

 by Dr. J. T. Rothrock on the Maine coast, gives an idea 

 of the appearance of the White Spruce growing near the 

 southern limits of its range and fully exposed to the fierce 

 blasts of the Atlantic. These stunted wind-swept trees 

 bear, however, little resemblance to the broad cones of 

 verdure which under more favorable conditions the White 

 Spruce raises to the height of more than a hundred feet. 



Botanical Gardens — I. 



THE following is a portion of the Vice-Presidential 

 address before the botanical section of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, delivered at 

 Buffalo, New York, August 24th, 1896, by Professor N. L. 

 Britton, the Director of the New York Botanical Garden. 

 The paper will be concluded in our next number. 



Origin and Development — The cultivation of plants within 

 small areas for their healing; qualities by the monks of the 

 middle ages appears tohavebeen the beginning; of the modern 

 botanical garden, although these mediaeval gardens doubtless 

 took their origin from others of greater antiquity. Botanical 

 gardens were thus primarily formed for purely utilitarian 

 objects, although the aesthetic study of planting and of flowers 

 must doubtless have appealed to their owners and visitors. 

 Their function as aids in scientific teaching and research, the 

 one which at present furnishes the dominating reason for 

 their existence, did not develop much, if any, before the six- 

 teenth century, and prior to the middle of the seventeenth 

 century a considerable number existed in Europe, in which 

 this function was recognized to a greater or less degree, of 

 which those at Bologna, Montpelier, Leyden, Paris and Upsala 

 were, perhaps, the most noteworthy. The ornamental and 

 decorative taste for planting had meanwhile been slowly gain- 

 ing ground, as well as the desire to cultivate rare or unusual 

 species, and during the eighteenth century attained a high 

 degree of development. Many persons of wealth and influ- 

 ence fostered this taste, and became, through the employment 

 of men skilled in botany and horticulture, generous patrons of 

 science. The world was searched for new and rare plants, 

 which were brought home to Europe for cultivation, and 

 many sumptuous volumes, describing and delineating them, 

 were published, mainly through the same patronage. The 

 older gardens were essentially private institutions, but as the 

 rights of the people became more and more recognized the 

 many existing establishments and an increasing number of 

 newly founded ones became, to a greater or less extent, open 

 to the public, either through an admittance fee or without 

 charge. The four main elements of the modern botanical 

 garden have thus been brought into it successively : (i) The 

 utilitarian or economic, (2) the aesthetic, (3) the scientific or 

 biologic, (4) the philanthropic. 



These four elements have been given different degrees of 

 prominence, depending mainly upon local conditions, some 

 gardens being essentially aesthetic, some mainly scientific, 

 while in our public parks we find the philanthropic function 

 as the underlying feature, usually accompanied by a touch of 

 the aesthetic and scientific. 



The EconOiMIC Element. — In the broadest extension of this 

 department of a botanical department there might be included, 

 to advantage, facilities for the display and investigation of all 

 plants directly or indirectly useful to man, and their products. 

 This conception would include forestry, pharmacognosy, agri- 

 culture, pomology, pathology and organic chemistry, and, in 

 case the management regards bacteria as plants, bacteriology. 

 The display of the plants may be effected by growing such 

 of them as will exist without protection in the locality in a plot, 

 more or less individualized, commonly known as the economic 

 garden, while those too tender for cultivation in the open are 

 grown in the greenhouses, either in a separate house or sec- 

 tion, or scattered through the several houses or sections, in 

 the temperatures best adapted to their growth. The display of 

 plant products, best accompanied by mounted specimens of 

 the species yielding them, by photographs and by plates, is 

 accomplished by the economic museum, where these are 

 arranged in glass or glass-fronted cases, suitably classified and 

 labeled. It is believed that the most useful results are ob- 

 tained by arranging this museum by the products themselves, 

 and thus not in biologic sequence, but bringing together all 

 drugs, all fibres, all woods, all resins ; where the same product 

 is used in more than one industry, the exhibit may be dupli- 

 cated, more or less modified, without disadvantage. 



The investigation of economic plants and their products is 

 accomplished through the scientific department, and few 

 valuable results can be reached unless the scientific equip- 

 ment is well developed. The two departments must work 

 conjointly, both on account of the necessity of knowing just 

 what species is under investigation, its structure, distribution 

 and literature, and in order that the most approved and exact 

 methods may be used in the research. Any idea that the 

 scientific element can be dispensed with in connection with 

 economic studies is palpably untenable. 



Teaching and research in agriculture, pomology and plant 

 pathology are so well organized in America through our 

 national Department of Agriculture and our numerous agri- 

 cultural colleges and schools that there is no great necessity 

 for providing elaborate equipments for these branches in 

 botanical gardens. But in case the endowment of a garden 

 were sufficiently large to enable them to be successfully prose- 

 cuted, in addition to their more necessary work, there can be 

 no doubt that important additions to knowledge would be 

 obtained. On the other hand, no such liberal allowances have 

 been made with us for forestry or pharmacognosy, and re- 

 search and instruction in these sciences must prove of the 

 greatest benefit to the country. 



The ^Esthetic Element, — The buildings, roads, paths and 

 planting of a botanical garden should be constructed and 

 arranged with reterence to tasteful and decorative landscape 

 effect. The possibilities of treatment will depend largely upon 

 the topographical character of the area selected and the natu- 

 ral vegetation of the tract. The buildings required are a fire- 

 proof structure or structures for museums, herbarium, 

 libraries, laboratories and offices; a glasshouse with com- 

 partments kept at several different temperatures for exhibi- 

 tion, propagation and experimentation, or several separate 

 glass-houses ; and to these will usually be added dwelling- 

 houses for some of the officers, a stable and other minor build- 

 ings. The character, number and sizes of the buildings 

 ■ generally depend on financial considerations. In placing the 

 structures intended for the visiting public, considerations of 

 convenient access, satisfactory water-supply, and the distribu- 

 tion of crowds must be borne in mind, in connection with the 

 landscape design. The planting should follow, as nearly as 

 possible, a natural treatment, except immediately around the 

 larger buildings and at t lie entrances, where considerable 

 formality is desirable for architectural reasons, ft is especially 

 desirable that as much natural treatment as possible should 

 be given to the areas devoted to systematic planting — herba- 

 ceous grounds, frutecetum, arboretum. The rectilinear 

 arrangement of plant-beds found in most of the older gardens 

 has become abhorrent to landscape lovers, and the sequence 

 of families desired can usually be quite as well obtained by 

 means of curved margined groups. 



The cultivation of decorative plants, and especially the fos- 

 tering of a taste for them, and the bringing of unusual or new 

 species to attention and effecting their general introduction, 

 are important functions of a botanical garden. For the accu- 

 rate determination of these plants, information concerning 

 their habits and structure, and suggestions regarding the con- 

 ditions of their growth, the aesthetic side, must rely on the 

 scientific. 



The Scientific or Biologic Element.— The important 

 relations of the scientific department to the economic and 



