MY VISIT rO THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM 



HE scope of the Arnold Arboretum (tlie tree museum of 



Harvard University) is so important that I feel I cannot 



l^^li do it justice, so before speaking of my visit I am going 

 to quote the following from an article that appeared in the Har- 

 vard Alumni Bulletin on "The Past, Present and Future of the 

 -Arnold Arboretum," written by Prof. Charles S. Sargent, the 

 director of the Arboretum: 



''Established in 1872 by an arrangement between the Presi- 

 dent and Fellows of the University and the trustees of the estate 

 of James Arnold of New Bedford, the Arboretum is one of the 

 largest and youngest of the great scientific gardens of the world,. 

 By a contract between the University and the city of Boston made 

 ten years later the permanency of the Arboretum in its present 

 position is assured. 



"Under the arrangement with the trustees of the James 

 Arnold Estate the University undertook to grow in the Arbor- 

 etum every tree and shrub able to support in the open ground 

 the climate of Ncav England. It is safe to say that none of these 

 contracting j)arties had any idea what this agreement might en- 

 tail, for wlien it was made, surprisingly little was known of the 

 trees and shrubs of the world and of the possibility of establish- 

 ing them in New England. In order, therefore, to carry out the 

 arrangement made by the University the chief employment of the 

 Arboretum during the forty-eight years of its existence has been 

 In the direction of exploration, and of the classification and 

 arrangement of the material it has brought together. 



"From other botanic gardens the Arboretum differs in its 

 restricted purpose, for it is intended only for the study and culti- 

 vation of woody plants. Other public arboreta are parts of gen- 

 eral botanic gardens and so sometimes suffer from the want of 

 exclusive attention. In many countries individuals have planted 

 collections of trees, but such collections have lacked scientific 

 control and permanency, and sooner or later such collections dis- 



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