40 ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC. GARDEN. 



A national bontanical garden, such as I have in mind, would not in any way 

 conflict with the purpose and function of existing gardens. On the other hand, 

 it would be of tremendous assistance to them and, with the resources of the 

 Government behind it, be capable of performing an important service to the 

 country at large, which could not be accomplished otherwise. 



Again regretting my inability to be present at the hearing, and with best 

 wishes, I am, 



Yours, very truly, 



George D. Moore, Director. 



Department of Agriculture, 



Washington, May 18, 1920. 

 Mr. Charles Moore, 



Chairman the Commission of Fine Arts. 

 Dear Mr. Moore : Responding to your kind invitations of the 11th and 15th 

 instant that I be present at the hearing before the Senate Committee on the 

 Library on the 21st at 10 a. m., to discuss the cpiestion of the relocation of the 

 Botanic Garden and the enlargement of that work, also that I attend a con- 

 ference on the same subject at the office of the commission the 20th instant 

 at 10.30 a. m.. I regret that it will not be possible for me personally to attend. 

 I shall take pleasure, however, in having this department represented both at 

 the conference and the hearing, probably by the Chief of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry and Messrs. Fairchild. Coville, and Swingle, who will present a state- 

 ment of the view of this department regarding the matter and be prepared to 

 discuss such features as may be pertinent. 

 Very truly, yours, 



E. Meredith, Secretary. 



American- Civic Association, 

 Harrisburg, Pa.. May 1), 1920. 

 Mr. ( !n vki.es Mooke, 



Chairman Commission of Fine Arts, 



1729 New York Avenue, Washington, 1>. C. 



Dear .Mi:. Moore: Yours of May 12 is at hand this morning, telling me of 

 the hearing before the Joint Committee on the Library in reference to the 

 relocation and enlargement of the Botanic Garden, on Friday, May 21. 



I would be very glad to be present on this occasion if I had not made a 

 definite engagement for the same day near Philadelphia — an engagement which 

 it would lie exceedingly difficult to break or postpone, because of the impend- 

 ing departure for California of the business friend I am to meet. 



I am in very hearty sympathy with the plan for a national botanic garden, 

 and I have had some consultation with those interested as to the Mount Hamil- 

 ton site, which appeals to me as a very excellent place at which to begin this 

 great enterprise. 



I have a slight acquaintance with other important national gardens, par- 

 ticularly Kew Gardens at London, and more especially with the Arnold Arbore- 

 tum at Boston. 1 would lie glad, if in my absence, you felt inclined to quote 

 jue not only on behalf of the American Civic Association but on behalf of the 

 American Association of Nurserymen (of the arboretum committee, of which 

 I am a member) and of the American Pose Society, as most earnestly favoring 

 t lie enterprise itself and the place of its location as thus suggested. 



Handled as a broadly conceived enterprise, such a garden can be of immense 

 value to the people of the United States. The recently imposed quarantine 

 No. :'>7. operated by the Federal Horticultural Board, which cuts off completely 

 the ordinary amateur and scientific investigation of the flora of the world 

 outside America, save under restrictions and regulations which are tantamount 

 to complete exclusion, makes more definitely essential a well-conducted botanic 

 garden and arboretum to which may be brought for trial, study, and eventual 

 dissemination, if found worth while, the plants of other climates desirable both 

 for food and for ornament. In fact, without some such action, or in its absence 



