10 BOTANIC GAJRDENS 



raised as a permanent endowment fund, and the eity will erect 

 buildings for museum, libraryand laboratories at a costof half 

 a million. The scope of this institution may be best illustrated 

 by the following quotation from the act of incorporation : "to 

 be located in the City of New York, for the purpose of estab- 

 Hshing and maintaining a botanical garden and museum and 

 arboretum therein, for the collection and culture of plants, 

 rlowers. shrubs and trees, the advancement of botanical 

 science and knowledge, and the prosecution of original re- 

 searches therein and in kindred subjects, for affording instruc- 

 tion in the same, for the prosecution and exhibition of orna- 

 mental and decorative horticulture and gardening, and for the 

 entertainment. recreation and instruction of the people." The 

 herbarium of Columbia College, comprising more than six hun- 

 dred thousand specimens, as well as the botanical library, will 

 be housed in the museum in such manner as to be most easily 

 accessible to those fitted and desirous of carrying on independ- 

 ent work. The conditions of organization are such that ahigh 

 effieiency for the entire equipment will be at once attained. 

 The establishment of this garden marks an impoitant step in 

 the development of botany in America. 



