14 ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 



doing something perhaps on a larger scale, and a little more elaborate 

 than is done by a mere city here and there in the country ? 



Dr. Britton. I should think that would be the rational course to 

 pursue, and one we would all welcome. 



The Chairman. To have it as a model? 



Dr. Britton. To have it as a model, and have it as a maximum. 



The Chairman. What have you to say about the wisdom of doing 

 it as soon as possible, rather than to wait ? 



Dr. Britton. I think the sooner you accomplish it, the better. 

 Of course, practical considerations may come up, but it seems to me 

 it should begin right away. It ought to be developed over a series of 

 years, rather than attempt to spend a vast amout of money at once. 



The Chairman. No ; but as to the acquisition of a site, the land ? 



Dr. Britton. That I should accomplish immediately. 



The Chairman. You think it would be wiser to locate your site 

 and acquire the property if you are going to do anything ? 



Dr. Britton. As I take it, your park commission desires this land 

 as an addition to the park system anyway. So why not secure it ? 



The Chairman. Your theory is, as I understand it, that the Botani- 

 cal Gardens should not onlv be made a beautiful park but also a great 

 utility? 



Dr. Britton. That is my thesis : yes, sir. 



The Chairman. In these botanical gardens, do they do anything 

 in the way of propagating and distributing through the country vari- 

 ous species of plants ? 



Dr. Britton. Yes, sir ; they certainly do. 



Mr. Pell. Is the object of your botanical garden experiment — that 

 is, experiment in the sense Burbank is making his experiments — or for 

 the acclimatization of foreign plants and, in addition, of vegetables 

 and trees from other countries? 



Dr. Britton. Our work includes all of those subjects in a way. 

 We do all such things. Of course, we do not do them all equally in- 

 tensively, but we are supposed to be equipped, or might be equipped 

 if we had the resources, to carry on all those lines of work. Every 

 large botanical garden ought to have facilities for all those things. 



Mr. Pell. A great deal of good work could be done in bringing 

 over vegetable foods from other countries. 



Dr. Britton. Look at the results reached by Mr. Fairchild already 

 with the limited facilities he has and with no great facility such as 

 is proposed to back him up. If he had had an institution of the 

 kind proposed to furnish the means of experimenting, the benefit to 

 the country would be enormously greater. • 



Mr. Fess. Doctor, originally the seed proposition was a scientific 

 one. Xow it has come to be pretty generally a distributive one 

 throughout the country. 



Dr. Britton. Yes. 



Mr. Fess. Is there any any danger of this degenerating into a 

 thing of that sort ? 



Dr. Britton. Certainly it would not under scientific control. 



Mr. Fess. Should it be under scientific control? 



Dr. Britton. It should be under scientific control. In fact, if you 

 want to make this a great institution of international repute, you 

 Vill have to put it under scientific control, and keep it there. 



