August, IgII 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS iii 
THE 
COLLECTION IN THE NATIONAL 
MUSEUM 
UBLIC attention should be directed 
toward the urgent need of a collec- 
tion of North American woods in 
the National Museum at Washington. 
The lumber industry of the United States 
stands fourth in the value of its product. 
Yet there is no place in the United States 
where a complete collection of North 
American woods is exhibited except in the 
American Museum of Natural History in 
New York City. Timber merchants and 
wood users recognize the need of men 
technically trained for identifying woods. 
Such work can only be carried on in con- 
nection with a complete collection of au- 
thentic wood specimens. The demand for 
authoritative information regarding com- 
mercial woods is continually increasing. 
Most large colleges and universities are 
provided with means for giving practical 
instruction in assaying. Ores and precious 
stones are in museum collections for 
observation, study and experiments. Every 
opportunity is afforded the student to be- 
ceme familiar with the subject in all its 
phases. It is vastly different when one 
looks for the same opportunities in that 
study of woods which is technically known 
as “xyology.” Institutions of learning have 
collections of mosses and alge obtained 
through considerable expense; they have 
microscopic slides of desminds and diatoms 
which have no interest to the average lay- 
man and only to comparatively few  sys- 
tematists. The economic value of the 
groups of plants represented by these 
objects is very small compared to the 
product of the forest, and yet the latter has 
received very little recognition in system- 
atic museum work. 
There are numerous purposes, each one 
of which in itself would be amply sufficient 
to justify a collection of authentic wood 
samples in the National Museum. The 
chief purposes are to instruct the public and 
to furnish materials for the investigator. 
In the main, the collection should consist 
of a reference collection and exhibition 
material. 
A collection of woods should not alone 
be a storehouse of facts, but it is important 
that provision should be made from the 
start for a laboratory. The aim of a refer- 
ence collection is two-fold, the one striv- 
ing toward a knowledge of the structure of 
wood and the other toward the diffusion of 
that knowledge. The former consists in 
investigating and discovering new facts, 
while the latter tends toward educating the 
people and applying the discovered facts to 
the advantage of all. Aside from the need 
of this collection there should be a museum 
collection similar to the one in the Ameri- 
can Museum of Natural History, New 
York city. No pains should be spared to 
secure similar material for exhibition pur- 
poses in Washington. In addition to the 
exhibition samples and enlarged micro- 
photographs of transverse and longitudinal 
sections, it will be necessary to show speci- 
mens of leaves from the trees and a map 
giving the range of growth and informa- 
tion as to the uses of the wood. 
Not only should every effort be made to 
obtain representative specimens of native 
woods, but the plans and buildings should 
be large enough to hold woods from other 
countries. It has been estimated that the 
collection of a complete set of North 
American wood samples alone would require 
a million dollars’ endowment. Whatever 
the expenditure, it would be an unusually 
good investment of national funds. The 
IMPORTANCE OF A WOOD 
Poultry, Pet and Liue Stork 
Directory 
Shetland Ponies 
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Other varieties of Mexican Parrots, $4.50. 
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Sharon, Conn., February 12th, 1910 
Our H. T. Parrot is learning to read. I give hima bit of paper and 
he will say ‘‘A.B.C..° He sings ‘"Yankee Doodle.’ ‘‘Little Brown 
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Catalog, Booklet and Proofs, free Write today 
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POMERANIANS AND COLLIES 
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ELLIS PLACE OSSINING, N. Y. 
Telephone, 323 Ossining 
Planning the Bungalow 
HE September issue of Amer- 
ican Homes and Gardens 
will have as its main article 
one on Planning and Build- 
ing a Bungalow. 
Other articles will deal with appropriate 
decorations and furnishings, and suggestions 
as to what is and what is not a bungalow. 
Advertising Forms Close August 10th 
Munn & Co., Inc., Publishers 
361 Broadway, New York 
The Home of the Thoro’bred, Blue 
Ribbon, Utility Bred, Stock and Poultry 
Faultless Houdans 
The 300 eggs hen which has been produced 
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Also some beautiful Welsh and Shetland ponies for 
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E. F. McAVOY p 
Secretary Houdan Club Cambridge, N. Y. 
If You 
are interested in Poultry, 
Pets or Live Stock, 
you will find these subjects de- 
scribed in forthcoming issues -of 
American 
Homes and Gardens 
These articles will probably 
start with the next issue, (Sep- 
tember) and each one will be 
of an instructive and interesting 
by the best 
authors in these lines. 
nature— written 
The new advertising depart- 
ment under the heading 
Poultry, Pet and Live Stock 
Directory 
should have your careful atten- 
tion. In writing to advertisers 
mention A. H. and G. 
Munn & Co., Inc., Publishers 
361 Broadway, New York 
