Washington of better equipped, broader-minded scientific men in the 
field of horticultural research. 
There are a few of us botanists who have been in the Department of 
Agriculture for a quarter of a century, hoping each year that some- 
thing would be done to make a real beginning towards a great National 
Botanic Garden. The Congressional Garden at the foot of the capitol 
has never had the respect of the scientific botanists of the country, 
lacking as it has funds and room to expand. It has done what it could, 
and in the early days of Washington its superintendent, Mr. Smith, 
played a great role in the work of determining the best shade trees for 
the capital. But it is not practicable to enlarge it in its present loca- 
tion, and, without enlargement, it can never be more than a small 
pubHc garden, comparing in this respect more with the city botanic 
gardens, so-called, of hundreds of the smaller cities of Europe. 
Senate bill No. 4485, if passed by Congress, would secure what 
appears to be the only remaining feasible site for such a garden within 
easy reach of the people of the city of Washington. No site selected is 
ever ideal. It is the opinion of the best experts in Washington that the 
Mount Hamilton tract of four himdred and some odd acres, adjoining 
the Anacostia waterway, is eminently suited for the development of a 
botanic garden. Along this waterway has already been developed the 
Shaw Water Gardens, from which have been sent all over America 
many of the choicest hybrid Water Lilies known to horticulture. This 
waterway could be treated as a charming water garden, filled with 
native and exotic water plants, a feature as yet not highly developed 
in any botanical garden in the world. 
The machinery for the introduction of new plants into America 
already exists in the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of 
the Department of Agriculture, and, as it is doubtless desirable that 
the botanical garden be a separate institution, the Department of 
Agriculture, which has heartily endorsed the project, would co-operate 
so that the stream of incoming plants discovered by agricultural ex- 
plorers in different parts of the world would inevitably bring into the 
National Botanic Garden all those worth while which are suited to 
cultivation in the climate of Washington. 
If the women gardeners of America want a federal Botanic Garden, 
the psychological moment for them to act is now. The coming session of 
Congress should not pass without their focusing their opinion on SeHate 
Bill 4485, which, if passed, would authorize, without immediate expense, 
the securing of the land for such a National Botanic Garden and he the 
first step necessary for its creation. If this opportunity is lost, it is prob- 
able that this suitable site will pass into commercial hands and he cut up 
by real estate development. Write immediately to your Congressman 
asking his support for Senate Bill 4485. 
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