TheiWestiAmericanlScientist. 



Volume XVL 



January, /go8, 



Whole Number /j^. 



CALIFORNIA BOTAXICAJ, ASSO- 

 CIATION. 



SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, 



The objects of this association shall 

 be the promotion of botanical science 

 by exploration, experiment and re- 

 search; the publication of agricul- 

 tural and botanical works; the form- 

 ing- of an herbarium, a museum, and 

 library, especially pertaining to agri- 

 ulture and botany; and the establish- 

 ment and maintenance of a botanical 

 garden and arboretum, in which ev- 

 ery known tree, plant or flower sus- 

 ceptible of cultivation, may be grown 

 for purposes of public instruction, ex- 

 periment, and scientific observation. 



It is proposed to effect an organiza- 

 ion, and to incorporate under the 

 aws of the state of California, with- 

 >ut capital stock (as pecuniary profit 

 s not its object), at. an early date, 

 md every lady or gentleman inter- 

 filed in botany, horticulture, or the 

 illied branches of science, is earn-, 

 stly invited to become a charter 

 nernber. 



The plans under consideration con- 

 emplate the. establishment of the 

 'ALiIFORNlA BOTANICAL GARDEN 

 m an insttiutioh of more than local 

 mportance, aiming to make it in time 

 f even international value, with 

 eatures that shall ensure it recog" 

 ition among the educational factors 

 f the nation. It is therefore pro* 

 osed to select an "Honorary Advis- 

 ry Board of American Botanists'*, 

 •ho shall be fully advised of our 

 lans and the local conditions, and 

 ^quested to' express advice and sug- 

 estions as to the development of the 

 Sucation&l and scientific features of 



our work, and to co-operate with us, 

 and to use our advantages of climate 

 in the experimental and research 

 work of the several institutions With 

 which they may be associated. The 

 professors of botany in the leading 

 universities of the United States, the 

 directors of the Missoifc-i Botanic^ 

 Garden, of the New York Botanical 

 Garden, of the Arnold Arboretum of 

 Harvard University, the National For- 

 ester, and others* may thus be con- 

 sistently invited to advise and Co- 

 operate With us in our plans— and 

 as far as Correspondence thus far 

 conducted with these gentlemen has 

 gone their cordial assistance may be 

 depended upon from the start. 



The main elements Of the modern 

 botanical garden are fourfold: — the 

 utilitarian or economic^ the aesthetic, 

 the scientific or biologic, and the phil- 

 anthropic. In the broadest interpre- 

 tation of the economic department 

 there might be included, to advant- 

 age, facilities for the display and in- 

 vestigation of all plants directly or 

 indirectly useful to man, and their 

 products. This conception would in- 

 clude- forestry, pharmacognosy, agri- 

 Culture, pomology, pathology and or- 

 ganic chemistry. 



A sense of the beautiful can be 

 maintained and cultivated in the es- 

 tablishment of the modern botanical 

 garden, the buildings, roads, paths 

 and planting being- arranged with ref- 

 erence to tasteful and decorative 

 landscape effect. The cultivation of 

 decorative plants, and especially the 

 fostering of a taste for them, and the 

 bringing of unusual or new species to 

 attention Fhd effecting their general 

 introduction, are important functions 



