fully studied by men thoroughly trained, from the 

 scientific principal and his assistants to the lowest 

 subordinate; men who practically devote their lives 

 to this service. 



In every country in Europe, and in France, Ger- 

 many and Holland in nearly every town, there is a 

 botanic garden ; whilst in North America, with a 

 population of 89 millions, 60 millions of which are 

 in the United States, there is but one botanic garden 

 worthy of the name, the one established in St. 

 Louis by the gift of the late Mr. Shaw. Not only 

 in Europe but in countries where nature is excep- 

 tionally prolific both in the abundance and in the 

 variety of its vegetable products, such gardens are 

 regarded as necessary and have been established in 

 Mexico, in Brazil, in Sumatra and in Borneo. Are 

 we so favored as to make them unnecessary in North 

 America? Allow me to call your attention to what 

 Mr. Ravenstien says, in 1890, of the North Ameri- 

 can continents, in estimating the number of people 

 that the earth will support: " Agriculture is there," 

 he says, ' 'carried on in a wasteful style, the cultivator 

 looking only to immediate returns, and having no 

 thought of the prosperity of his descendants. If 

 you travel from Montreal to Washington you pass 

 millions of acres of land once most productive, but 

 which now produce nothing, the forests having been 

 devastated in the most reckless way ; swamps and 

 sandy places now take the place of trees. This 

 will be mended in the course of time. The exhaus- 



