62 ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 



seeds, fertilizer, etc., approximately $228,550, and for salaries and 

 labor from 1843 to 1916 approximately $426,607 more. Expense of 

 lighting is included in that of the Capitol from 1876 to the present 

 time. The total expenditure on the gardens from about 1842 to 1917, 

 including the original appropriation for the expedition, amounts to 

 about $1,416,748. The present structures and equipment are anti- 

 quated and inadequate for a real botanic garden. Most of that which 

 has value can be removed. 



THE NEED OF A REAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 



When comparison is made with the gardens of other cities and 

 countries, the fact is disclosed that the United States Government has 

 no real botanic garden in Washington. The present so-called Botanic 

 Garden does not compare favorably even with gardens established 

 in other cities in this country. The name is a misnomer. A national 

 Botanic Garden in AVashington was conceived in the early days of 

 the century by broad-minded and farseeing men. It was begun by 

 the employment of Government vessels, and a large appropriation 

 for those days. The work was handled by a body of scientists. This 

 garden, so wisely and adequated begun, now serves mainly as a dis- 

 tributor of plants and flowers. 



The present area of the entire establishment devoted to both Bo- 

 tanic Garden display and propagating purposes for congressional 

 use is 12.47 acres. Of this 11.31 acres are included in the fenced area 

 and 1.16 lie south of Maryland Avenue. Of the section lying south 

 of Maryland Avenue a number of stables covering 0.10 acre are used 

 for other purposes, and need not be included. Of the area within 

 the inclosure 1.15 acres only are covered by palm houses and other 

 structures, while the remainder of 10.16 acres is used for out-door dis- 

 play; this latter area has been diminished considerably by the loca- 

 tion of the Grant Memorial, and when the construction of the Meade 

 Memorial is begun, the available space will be still further decreased. 



The famous Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, formerly of 253 acres, 

 of which 178 were in the arboretum and 75 in gardens devoted to 

 economic and taxonomic work, had been increased to 288 acres in 

 1908. The 24 colonial botanical gardens of the British Empire are 

 closely associated and identified with Kew. These associated gardens 

 have opened up new industries in the British Colonies, thus creating 

 an increased demand for capital and labor; have introduced quinine, 

 cocoa, and rubber from South American countries to colonies where 

 it was theretofore unknown in culture, and tea into South Africa 

 where it had not been previously grown : and in many other ways 

 have repaid a thousandfold by vastly increasing the trade of the 

 Empire. This work became so pronounced as to have interested the 

 German Empire to such an extent that Bismarck paid a special visit 

 to Kew to ascertain just what influence this garden was having on 

 the commerce of the British Empire. In this country economic work 

 is done by the Agricultural Department, from whose activities those 

 of a botanic garden should be distinctly separated. 



Berlin has 1,325 acres in its botanic garden, which was established 

 at a cost of $4,000,000. Paris has 75 acres, Edinburgh has 58 acres, 

 Glasgow 4D acres. Petrograd 54 acres, and Rio de Janeiro has 2,000 

 acres. In the appendix will be found descriptions of botanic gardens 



