2 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



and are in a position to cultivate and put into their daily life 

 those things that make life worth while. The fine parks and 

 conservatories, great museums of various kinds of the larger 

 city give the country folk an insight into the finer things, and 

 instill within their hearts a desire for the same. They profit 

 from the experience, and bring to their own fireside lessons for 

 their friends. 



The campus of the Northern Illinois State Normal School 

 is located about one mile due west of the center of town on 

 the Lincoln Highway. It comprises sixty-seven acres of diversi- 

 fied land which was donated to the state by Mr. Joseph Glidden, 

 the renowned barb wire inventor. The buildings stand on the 

 highest point in the northwest corner of the grounds, facing 

 south, beyond which is a beautiful grove of native trees and 

 shrubs. The main building is one of the best in the United 

 States. The style of architecture resembles one of those ancient 

 and picturesque castles with battlements towering from fifty 

 to one hundred and thirty-five feet high. The front is faced 

 "with white stone over which grows, luxuriantly, Ampclopsis 

 Englcmamii and A. Veitchii. 



In 1906 the transformation, or beautification, of the 

 campus began. Prior to that time no attempt had been made 

 tO' change the natural contour of the grounds, but through the 

 instrumentality of a sympathetic member of the state legisla- 

 ture funds w^ere secured for beginning the present scheme. An 

 expert landscape architect, Mr. Walter Burley Grifiin, of Chi- 

 cago, later the winner in the international contest for supplying 

 plans for the new capitol site of Australia, w^as given the com- 

 mission. Upon Mr.^ Grifiin's first visit to the site he found that 

 the foundation of the building was not, in his opinion, of suf- 

 ficient strength. He. therefore conceived the idea of offering 

 some support by building a series of terraces, which also 

 afforded opportunity for formal planting. The large terraces, 



