36 ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 



sity of fostering botanical investigation. It is fundamental and a 

 matter second hardly to none in importance for a Government like 

 the United States to undertake. 



I am not endeavoring to speak upon the different sites which have 

 been proposed, but I would like to see a botanical garden established 

 here of size commensurate with the needs of the Nation. The de- 

 velopment of a mere park in Washington is a local matter. It can 

 be enjoyed only by persons who are- in Washington as residents or 

 persons in Washington as citizens; but a botanical garden has a 

 national influence and a national importance. Its activities should 

 extend throughout the entire country. It has got to be located in 

 some place, and naturally the National Capital is the fitting place. 



The Chairman. Is your botanical garden under the jurisdiction 

 or control of your park commission? 



Dr. Gager. No, sir; we articulate with the Government of greater 

 New York through the office of the park commissioner ; but he has 

 no jurisdiction whatever except to transmit communications from 

 and to the Botanic Garden and the other departments. 



The Chairman. Who controls its management? 



Dr. Gager. It is controlled by a board of trustees, a trustee organ- 

 ization which has entire power of administrative appointments and 

 supplies and a large part of the funds for maintenance. 



The Chairman. Have you finished your statement, Dr. Gager? 



Dr. Gager. Yes : thank you. 



Mr. Moore. Senator. I would like to have Mr. Hess to address the 

 committee. 



STATEMENT OF ME. GEORGE W. HESS, DIRECTOR UNITED STATES 

 BOTANICAL GARDEN, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Mr. Hess. Mr. Chairman, the area occupied by the Botanic Garden 

 ;>t present, I admit, is entirely too small. It should be located on a 

 site where it could have at least 300 or 400 acres in order to bring 

 the United States Botanical Garden up to date. As far as experi- 

 menting on fruit, blueberries, and things of that sort, as connected 

 with the Botanic Garden. I have always considered that entirely sepa- 

 rate. 



We have seen Thar botanic gardens, in their origin, were based on utility, 

 This is perhaps the best distinction that can he made between their function 

 and that of the public garden or park, where plaids are grown primarily for 

 purposes of ornament or shade. The essential difference is apt to hecorne 

 blurred, especially in the case of botanic gardens situated near to towns, and 

 needs to Ik- reemphasized from time to time. There is no reason why botanic 

 gardens can nut or should not he ornamental, but this should be strictly sub- 

 sidiary to their main purpose. 



What. then, are the proper functions of a botanic garden, large or small, in 

 the neighborhood of a great city, or in a small tropical island? First, there 

 is the scientific function. New plants are introduced from other climates and 

 other lands, and these are grown and studied so as to discover whether they 

 are capable of adaptation to their new surroundings and whether they are 

 likely to be of value, economic or esthetic. 



Second, only perhaps to plant introduction should be the maintenance, so 

 far as it is possible, of a representative collection of the more interesting and 

 useful plants of the surrounding country, and especially of species allied to 

 those in cultivation. The latter are of great interest to the taxonomist, to the 

 plant breeder, and to the pathologist, because of the likenesses and differences 

 they exhihit in comparison with the species grown for use. In a cotton-growing 



