BOTANICAL GARDENS. 105 



obtained by careful management of the moths at the time of lay- 

 ing the eggs. A vigorous moth will usually lay four or five hun- 

 dred eggs. When the laying is terminated the peasants examine 

 the cards, and, if there are any vacant places, attach a moth, by 

 pins through its wings, so that the eggs may be deposited in the 

 right place. — Abridged from the Journal of the Society of Arts. 



BOTANICAL GARDENS. 



By Db. FR. HOFFMANN. 



"AJ~OTWITHSTANDING its size, prosperity, and luxury, the 

 J-N commercial metropolis of the United States has been hith- 

 erto a less fruitful soil for the rise and growth of humanistic and 

 scientific institutions of learning, and museums, than Boston, 

 Washington, Philadelphia, and, through its university, Baltimore. 

 Movements, donations, and beginnings for the building up of such 

 institutions have not been wanting, but they have usually been 

 hindered by the predominance of mercantile interests and tenden- 

 cies, unfortunate starts, misadministration, seizure by political 

 aspirants, or lack of competent, skilled, unselfish management, 

 and have fallen short of their intended and possible aims. Cente- 

 narian Columbia College, with its professional branch schools, 

 has been left far behind by Harvard, Yale, and Johns Hopkins 

 universities. The Astor and Lenox libraries can not compete with 

 those of other cities of like importance with New York, and are 

 surpassed by libraries in Boston and Washington. The Museum 

 of Natural History in Central Park has only recently acquired 

 importance and value ; and the Art Museum has not till within a 

 short time, by means of a few large bequests and gifts, overcome 

 its previous failures. Ethnographical, zoological, botanical, and 

 pharmacological museums are, except for the sporadic collections 

 in scientific institutions, and for the ethnographic collection in the 

 Historical Society, not existent, nor have we a botanical and 

 zoological garden. The museums of the medical schools do not 

 exceed the measure of demonstration objects, and the small phar- 

 macological collection of the College of Pharmacy is one of the 

 most neglected and insignificant of all. 



The creation of higher institutions of learning and of scientific 

 collections has hitherto been left for the most part to private en- 

 terprise and munificence ; the latter has, as everywhere else in our 

 country, accomplished much in New York that is good and useful, 

 and has given large sums. But the givers have too often lacked 

 correct understanding, and have failed to secure the qualified and 

 experienced agents that were needed in order to put their rich 



