EVERY GARDEN MEADES HOME 
AN ENDOWMENT IS NEEDED 
F IFTY years ago there came into being, by the trust of 
a sum of money left by James Arnold, a merchant of 
New Bedford, Massachusetts, an institution unique 
in the history of horticulture and botany. James 
Arnold, who died in May, 1868, bequeathed $100,000 
to trustees to be used for the advancement of horticulture or 
agriculture. One of these trustees, Mr. Emerson, had long been 
interested in the native trees of Massachusetts. Another of 
the trustees was an amateur horticulturist, greatly interested in 
the collection of trees that formed part of his estate on Jamaica 
Plain, near where the Arnold Arboretum now stands. 
On March, 29, 1872, these trustees, in conjunction with Har¬ 
vard College, entered into an agreement by which money was 
devoted to the establishment and support of an arboretum— 
a collection of wooded plants “ to be called The Arnold 
Arboretum, which shall contain, as far as is practicable, all the 
trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants . . . which can be 
raised in the open air in the said West Roxbury . . . and 
each specimen thereof shall be distinctly labeled; and to the 
support of a professor . . . who shall teach the knowledge 
of trees.” 
There is not a garden in America, there is not a botanical 
institution in the world that has not benefited immensely from 
the founding of the Arnold Arboretum. The benefits accumu¬ 
late as the years roll on. Service to all interested in gardens 
has been the guiding spirit of this institution. If America 
can boast no Botanic Garden comparable with those of the Old 
World it has in the Arnold Arboretum an institution which is 
the best in the world in its field—the increase in the knowledge 
of trees and shrubs and the improvement of gardens. 
T HE founders of this institution had remarkable foresight 
and through their own sympathies in the plants of the gar¬ 
den and landscape were led toward the foundation of an educa¬ 
tional establishment which, in the half century of its existence, 
has been and continues to be a potent factor in the horticultural 
affairs of America. In energetically carrying out the terms of 
the foundation, Professor Charles Sprague Sargent, who has 
been the presiding genius from the beginning, has sent expedi¬ 
tions into remote quarters of the earth and has collected living 
plant material as well as seeds, etc., for the establishment and 
maintenance of the growing collections of plants. 
Being devoted to the study of trees as individuals, it has as¬ 
sumed a character somewhat different from that of any other 
institution anywhere, for not only are there living collections— 
nearly 7,000 species and varieties—but a library and museum of 
tree material and a collection of photographs and illustrations 
has been assembled in this remarkable institution. One of the 
most important undertakings, but perhaps not widely known, 
is the compilation of the Bradley Bibliography—five volumes 
of references to every book, every magazine article, and every 
paper in the transactions of learned societies relating to trees and 
shrubs, in all languages, accomplished before the end of the nine¬ 
teenth century. That was the result of many years’ work of Mr. 
Alfred Rehder. 
In the matter of collecting plants new to science and cultiva¬ 
tion, the Arnold Arboretum added Mr. Ernest H. Wilson to its 
staff and sent him to China—he is now Assistant Director, and 
the realization of the wealth of his contributions is for the 
chronicle of the next fifty years. At this time we are only in 
a position to recognize the fact of his marvellous and multitu¬ 
dinous contributions. Well has he been called by the Director, 
‘‘the most successful of all plant collectors.” 
Emissaries of the Arboretum have visited practically every 
country in the world collecting material for the gardens, for the 
museum, and for the library. And now, at this time of the 
celebration of its Jubilee, when the institution finds itself with 
a greatly growing sphere of work, with material available in 
greater volume than was ever dreamed likely to be the case when 
it started, when it has been given form, direction, and permanent 
establishment, it is looking to a substantial increase of its founda¬ 
tion so that the work which it has begun and in which it stands 
permanent in the world may be carried on triumphantly and 
with all the completeness and exactness of the past. 
U NDER the direction of a committee of Harvard College a 
drive is launched this spring to increase the influence and 
income of the Arboretum through a general appeal to persons 
throughout the country, interested in the sort of thing the 
Arboretum is helpful in. 
Surely it should need no special pleading to urge the de¬ 
serving character of this foundation. The plants of significance 
and value to our gardens, which we owe to the activities of the 
Arboretum, are far too numerous to be even mentioned by 
name in this place. Those who are interested may read, how¬ 
ever, in Professor Sargent’s article ‘‘The First Fifty Years of the 
Arnold Arboretum ”—Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, Vo!. 
3—Pages 142 to 162 inclusive—20 pages of type, listing—merely 
listing—the plants that the Arnold Arboretum has given us and 
which include the Kurume Azaleas, Father Hugo’s Rose, the 
Dwarf Japan Barberry, Hawthorns innumerable, numerous 
Dawson Roses, the Mount Taurus form of the Cedar of 
Lebanon, the Arnold Thorn, the spectabilis form of Forsythia; 
many, very many ornamental conifers and other evergreens; 
and Asiatic Crab Apples—to merely touch the very high spots. 
It is the desire of the management to further extend the ser¬ 
vice of utility of the Arboretum not only by further additions of 
information about trees all over the world, but also for the 
establishment and equipment of a laboratory for the study of 
diseases of trees and for the study of insects dangerous to trees, 
and for the creation of a department of breeding new races of 
plants. What the plant breeder has done in ornamentals 
(especially for the florist), and in vegetables, we are reaping the 
benefits of every hour of the day. Very little, practically noth¬ 
ing, has yet been attempted for the improvement of trees along 
similar lines, but can any one doubt that the future holds great 
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