ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL, BOTANIC GARDEN. 29 



and unless we can have greenhouse facilities within easy reach of us, 

 within a few minutes' walk, we do not do the greenhouse work. The 

 effectiveness of the bureau would be enormously increased by this 

 additional facility. 



Mr. Pell. Just what route do you take to get out to the Mount 

 Hamilton property ? 



Mr. Coville. You go down Maryland Avenue to Fifteenth and H 

 Streets NE., and then out the Bladensburg Pike. 



Mr. Pell. Is the Anacostia Park in existence at the present time? 



Mr. Coville. Yes ; the Government is developing it. 



Mr. Pell. And that belongs to the Government? 



Mr. Coville. It belongs to the Government. With the purchase 

 of Mount Hamilton you can get the use also of all this Government 

 land along the Anacostia River. You can not use the Anacostia 

 flats alone for the botanical gardens, because it is all below the 

 10-foot level and all practically one type of soil. This is tidewater 

 here [pointing to map] , and it is only 10 feet above mean low water. 



Mr. Pell. I did not realize that the lands were as low as that. 



Mr. Coville. Maryland Avenue is to be opened by prolonging it 

 to the base of Mount Hamilton, but if Maryland Avenue went be- 

 yond that point it would cost the Government more to grade the 

 streets than Mount Hamilton would cost. 



Mr. Coville submitted the following communication supplementing 

 his statement: 



STATEMENT ON THE REQUIREMENTS OF A BOTANICAL GARDEN SITE IN WASHINGTON 

 ADDRESSED TO THE CONGRESSIONAL JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY. 



[By Frederick V. Coville, Botanist, Department of Agriculture.] 



May 21, 1920. 



Gentlemen : The old National Botanic Garden which now occupies a site 

 of about 12 acres of land at the foot of the Capitol Grounds is to be moved, 

 because it stands in the way of certain park improvements that have already 

 been determined upon by congressional action. 



I understand that the superintendent of the garden had at one time recom- 

 mended as a new site a tract of about 20 acres of level ground in the Mall, 

 immediately west of the present garden. 



The Fine Arts Commission has recommended a tract of some 400 acres lying 

 at the northeast edge of the city of Washington and comprising a wide variety 

 of soils and exposure, from a tidal wild-rice marsh, suitable for water gardens, 

 to extensive oak hills 200 feet or more in height. 



I speak in favor of the site recommended by the Fine Arts Commission. 



The man who made the present garden, the late William R. Smith, was a 

 friend of mine, and I was a friend of his. I have the highest respect for that 

 Scotchman, for his sterling character, for the garden that he built, and for 

 the pleasure he gave the public in it. But now it is necessary to move this 

 garden. It would be easy to transfer it to a more convenient position and to 

 increase somewhat its size, but these changes alone will not meet the needs 

 of the present or the future. 



In selecting the new site your committee has a duty to perform of far greater 

 importance than appears upon the surface. If you choose wisely and in the 

 interest of the whole American public, you will make provision for a line of 

 activity that will stimulate the scientific and horticultural progress of the 

 Nation for many generations. 



The new garden should preserve the objects of the old garden, the first and 

 most important of which is to provide a place in which the public, especially 

 the man who works, can find rest and enjoyment and refreshment of mind out 

 of doors surrounded by the atmosphere of beauty and dignity and curious inter- 

 est of nature that pervades a well-planned garden of trees and flowers. 



