252 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No 163 



means of education. Several of the largest gar- 

 dens owe their origin primarily to the first cause, 

 though they have proved valuable educational 

 agents, and may ultimately have come to be 

 used chiefly for instruction and research ; but a 

 considerable number are the property of colleges, 

 and were from the first intended to subserve 

 educational ends. The garden at Cambridge is of 

 this class ; and the report of its director, just pub- 

 lished, shows that it is growing in usefulness. 

 Beside the general collection of plants that every 

 well-regulated garden is supposed to contain, the 

 Cambridge garden is working toward extensive 

 special collections to illustrate economic botany 

 and the general morphology of phenogams. The 

 groups in the latter, which can well be copied on 

 a smaller scale, even where the name of ' botanic 

 garden' would appear pretentious, are arranged 

 in substantially the order laid down in the com- 

 mon text-books of botany, so that the different 

 forms of leaves, flower-clusters, and flowers, can 

 be easily recognized by any pupil. In connection 

 with the economic plants — intended to exhibit 

 variation under domestication by large suites of 

 varieties of such plants as the cabbage, etc., and to 

 promote the cultivation of vegetables that have 

 come to be prized in Europe, though strangers to 

 our tables — should be mentioned the large eco- 

 nomic collection of trees in the Arnold arboretum 

 at Jamiaca Plain, which is now reported by its 

 director, Dr. Sargent, to be definitely planned so 

 as to include a general collection of the native 

 trees of eastern Massachusetts, and the most valu- 

 able species from other localities, planted singly, 

 to admit of the maximum growth of each species, 

 and also in groups, chosen so as to represent its 

 main varieties, and calculated to show its mass- 

 characters. This loosely planted general collec- 

 tion, arranged for the definite purpose of object- 

 teaching, is supplemented by a more compact 

 experimental and working collection, intended to 

 supply material for study, and especially to re- 

 ceive doubtfully hardy or valuable species and 

 transitory horticultural forms. 



While Harvard — the oldest and strongest bo- 

 tanical centre of the country — is thus giving 

 evidence of large resources and progressive intelli- 

 gence, the fact that similar steps are taking in 

 other sections of the country is not to be over- 

 looked, and is even more indicative of progress, 

 since it implies a wide-spread interest in better 

 instruction and better research in botany. It is 

 very desirable that this feeling may become more 



prevalent, and receive the financial backing that 

 is necessary if it is to count for much. 



So far as experimental work is concerned, per- 

 sons who know that there is a botanic garden at 

 Washington, enjoying the patronage of the gov- 

 ernment, might expect much from it, did not the 

 majority of them know, at the same time, that it 

 is so circumstanced as to improve its past record 

 very little until the policy of its management is 

 radically changed. Until then, such work must 

 be done elsewhere ; and it is being undertaken by 

 the experiment-stations and agricultural colleges 

 of several states enthusiastically, if, in most cases, 

 with too limited resources. Meantime new gardens 

 are being established and developed under hopeful 

 auspices. The most prominent of these are the 

 newly created Montreal garden, and the private 

 garden of Mr. Henry Shaw of St. Louis, which 

 has recently been placed in relation with the chair 

 of botany of Washington university, and will, it is 

 understood, be so amply endowed by its founder 

 as to become within a few years, if properly de- 

 veloped, a leading centre for research, experiment, 

 and instruction in pure and applied botany. 



That these movements indicate a growing recog- 

 nition of the needs of botany and a disposition to 

 meet them, is suggested by rumors of similar steps 

 soon to be taken in other quarters ; so that the 

 outlook for botanical and horticultural work of 

 a high grade is more promising than at any time 

 in the past. What is most to be feared, is that ill- 

 advised influence may place the facilities for this 

 work in incompetent hands, with the result not 

 only of temporary delay, but of permanent dis- 

 aster. This danger can be avoided only by proper 

 care in the first instance, both in selecting men 

 and in planning work. 



DEEP-SEA SOUNDINGS IN THE SOUTH 

 PACIFIC. 



The navy department has received a letter from 

 Commander A. S. Barker, U.S.N., dated Dec. 18, 

 1885, at Sandy Point, Magellan Straits, in which 

 he reports having made a series of deep-sea sound- 

 ings from Wellington, New Zealand, across the 

 South Pacific to the Straits of Magellan. Fifty- 

 seven casts were taken during the passage, from 

 Nov. 6 to Dec. 16, over a distance of forty-five 

 hundred nautical miles. The passage was made 

 across that part of the ocean where strong 

 westerly winds prevail, and many of the sound- 

 ings were taken under trying circumstances. A 

 few gales were encountered, but only one severe 



