18 MADRONO [Vol. 1, 



the especial honor of presenting to you Dr. Adolf Engler, Professor 

 of Botany and Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Berlin. ' ' 



"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the California Botan- 

 ical Society : My English is limited, and I find it difficult to express 

 appreciation of your courtesy to us. But for my friends and myself 

 I thank you for the welcome conveyed in this table spread with 

 choice food and rare wine, in the beautiful flowers all about us, and 

 most of all in the presence of the charming ladies of your charming 

 State. 



"We have seen wonderful things in California and are well 

 repaid for the arduous days of our journey. We have just arrived 

 from the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees. 

 The Yosemite is truly wonderful. But what can I say of the Big 

 Trees ? The impression made upon my mind by the Sequoia gigantea 

 will never die within me. The fine trees in the Mariposa Grove ex- 

 cited the loftiest feelings. I bared my head before them. I walked 

 around them. I placed my hand reverently on their trunks, for they 

 are the great wonders of the plant kingdom. 



"And now we come to your cities and are met on all sides by 

 the growth of your civilization. But it seems that you have no great 

 botanic garden in California, and this is noticeable because there 

 are few more favorable places in the world than this for a great 

 botanic garden. It would be a task of pure joy to bring plants and 

 trees from all parts of California that your own people, as well as 

 travelers, might observe and study your flora in a compact view. 

 Moreover, you would wish to bring desirable plants from the limits 

 of the earth and teach the strangers to thrive in their new home. 

 It is a magnificent project and you Americans could carry it along 

 magnificently. 



"But I hear it said you have no money. Ah, that is no worthy 

 answer ! And how can that be ? I see on every side the signs of great 

 wealth. You have money for what you call skyscrapers — money for 

 palaces and cities. It would be a disgrace to say you had no money 

 for botanical science, for one of the important things to the state 

 must be a botanic garden.' As you know, nearly every important 

 city in Europe has its botanic garden. I make a plea to you who are 

 so greatly favored by nature to add to what nature has done, and 

 to build for yourselves and for the whole world a treasure spot, 

 which shall have living, growing plants from all California and 

 from the far corners of the earth. I desire to see a great botanic 

 garden in California because a great botanic garden is very near 

 my heart. Such a collection as I picture would enrich the whole 

 botanical world and would be forever an honor to you its builders. ' ' 



After the dinner the party adjourned to the ballroom of the 

 hotel where an illustrated lecture on the flora of the Alps was given 

 by Professor Schroter. 



