main interests of the Arboretum, through it many plants of 
great interest and beauty have been produced, and lovers of 
Eoses are grateful for the productions here of the Dawson, Lady 
Duncan, Wm. C. Egan, Arnold and Sargent Roses. Experimental 
hybridization has not been carried out in trees to the extent it 
has in herbaceous plants, but the natural hybrids which have 
arisen and the few which have been experimentally produced, 
show that as great results in the formation of valuable forms 
may be expected here as has been shown in the herbaceous 
plants. Such experimental hybridization of trees demands time, 
(for twenty or thirty years may be necessary to determine the 
value of a hybrid) large space for planting, and skilled special 
work. Great results may be attained in the production of species 
of economic value such as new and more hardy varieties of fruit 
and nut trees and trees valuable for timber. 
Interest and imagination will always be excited by a visit to 
the Arboretum and the director regards its beauty and the 
attractive arrangement of the planting as valuable assets only 
in that they attract people who would not otherwise come there. 
The ignorance of people about the common things around them 
is amazing, most of them as they have grow up and been .taught 
from books have gradually failed to acquire information by the 
use of their senses. It is possible for a boy to go through college 
without having studied phenomenon presented by a single living 
thing and more than half of the graduates cannot distinguish the 
common trees, or if so, cannot tell how they distinguished them. 
At no season is the Arboretum devoid of beauty and interest. 
The flowering season begins in February with the exquisite and 
interesting flowers of the Japanese Witch Hazel and ends in 
December with the flowers of the native American species. The 
time of greatest beauty is of course the spring flowering which 
begins in April and continues through June. Nowhere is there 
such a collection of flowering Apples, the season for which 
precedes and accompanies the Lilacs in May, and the continent 
offers nothing equal to it. A little later comes the great display 
given by the Azaleas, Rhododendrons and Laurels. There are 
many summer flowering trees which are of great beauty and 
unfortunately but little known and used, and the autumn bring- 
ing the exquisite colors of leaf and fruit is one of the most 
interesting periods. 
The fame of the Arnold Arboretum has extended over the 
civilized world, and it is impossible to estimate the. benefit which 
man has derived from its work. It is the creation of Charles S. 
Sargent, the great man who has been director from the begin- 
ning and in whom the rare qualities of genius, wide vision, 
liberality and determination are so combined as to have enabled 
him to accomplish the work as few men could have done. 
W. T. Councilman. 
27 
