ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 63 



in various parts of the world. These gardens all are a source of 

 pleasure as well as of profit to the nations in which they are located. 

 Harvard University has given to the city of Boston the 220 acres 

 comprised in the Arnold Arboretum, the maintenance of the roads 

 being paid by the city and the teaching facilities being retained by 

 the university. St. Louis has 80 acres in its Shaw Gardens. New 

 York has 400 acres. Pittsburgh and some other cities have botanic 

 gardens in connection with their park systems. 



REMOVAL OF THE PRESENT GARDEN WILL BENEFIT THE PUBLIC. 



The removal of the Botanic Garden by no means implies that the 

 public which now enjoys the present garden is to be left without 

 such enjoyment in the immediate neighborhood of the Capitol. The 

 enlargement of the Capitol Grounds on the north affords an area for 

 gardens of great beauty and distinction, through which will pass all 

 visitors to Washington and a large proportion of those persons who 

 daily go to the Capitol and the Library of Congress. The present 

 Botanic Garden is seen by an insignificant fraction of visitors or 

 residents. The contemplated Congress gardens will be a feature of 

 the city and will take their place among the means of daily enjoy- 

 ment by all who approach Capitol Hill. The removal of the garden 

 features from the west side of the Capitol to the north side simply 

 makes such features more available than they now are. 



ALTERNATIVE SITE FOR TEMPORARY RELOCATION OF GARDEN. 



If Congress desires to find a temporary location to accommodate 

 the propagating structures and equipment lying within the fenced-in 

 inclosure, comprising the palm house, the superintendent's quarters, 

 and some glass houses (which in themselves cover an area of about 

 1.15 acres), there is available for their accommodation an old canal 

 space. Government owned, of about 2.72 acres at Second Street and 

 Xew Jersey Avenue, between M and N Streets SE. The space imme- 

 diately adjoining it on the north at Second Street, between M and L 

 Streets, of about 0.79 acre, is also available. Thus an area double 

 the size of that now in use is available without land cost. 



A REAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 



The problem is only half solved when provision is made for flowers 

 for Members of Congress and for the present limited output of shrubs 

 and cuttings. There is a demand for a real Botanic Garden in 

 which the public may examine living specimens of the enormous 

 varieties of trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous plants native to this 

 locality or capable of being grown here, freely, out of doors. These 

 plants should be classified, and the public should be made free of the 

 grounds for recreation and study. The people not only get direct 

 enjoyment but also they benefit by reason of the help in making 

 selection of trees, shrubs, and other plants for home "rounds and for 

 street planting. 



A large area is required to grow well-developed specimens of the 

 different kinds of trees which are native to the District alone, to say 

 nothing of showing the very different aspects of those trees when 



