This table shows that the Botanical Garden stands at 

 the bottom of the list in all of the features presented — 

 endowment, membership, City 



. , Position of the Garden 



appropriation, and annual ex- 

 penditure. Moreover, I find that it does not hold, among 

 either the American public or American botanists, the 

 commanding position of unquestioned leadership which 

 the three other named institutions hold in their respective 

 fields. That it ought to gain and maintain such leadership 

 is widely recognized and cannot, I believe, be rationally 

 denied. I shall endeavor here to indicate how such a po- 

 sition may be achieved, and shall discuss, first, the re- 

 lations of the Garden to the public and, secondly, its 

 scientific work — although these two features are alike in 

 importance and constantly interlock. 



A. The Relations of the Garden to the Public 



It should never be forgotten that it is the lay public for 

 whom, largely, the Garden exists and to whom it must 

 look, largely, for its support. Its duties to the public 

 consist, in brief, in affording instruction, recreation and 

 entertainment by means of its collections of living plants, 

 shrubs and trees, by "the prosecution and exhibition of 

 ornamental and decorative horticulture and gardening," 

 by its museum, its publications and its lectures. It is 

 estimated that some six to eight million people pass 

 through the Garden annually, of whom the majority 

 probably are mere passing motorists but a considerable 

 number, especially on Sundays and holidays, spend their 

 time on foot within the Garden's grounds observing its 

 various features. Notwithstanding the large number of 

 its visitors my inquiries reveal, among intelligent and 

 influential people who love the beauties of nature and 

 the things which plant life has to offer, an appalling 



