34 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
A GREAT LIBRARY OE PLANTS. 
Comparatively few persons have a clear conception of 
the nature and magnitude of the science of plants. Prof. 
Appleton Park Lyon of New York city is one of the fev/. 
From his boyhood he has been an ardent student of 
nature and the sciences. The importance of the vege¬ 
table kingdom impressed him at the beginning of his 
studies, and as a result of his diligence and researches in 
that particular field he now possesses probably the most 
unique library of botanical literature in the world. 
It is not generally known, says the New York 
Times, that there is in New York to-day, in Prof. Lyon’s 
house, 47 East Forty-fourth Street, a pictorial library, 
or encyclopedia, of plants, consisting of more than 265,- 
000 pictures, with descriptive text. This is the largest 
collection of the kind known to be in existence, and 
when the proposed Botanical Gardens are established in 
this city, this mammoth cyclopedia of itself is likely to 
give it character and a world-wide interest. The forma¬ 
tion of this remarkable collection, which may properly be 
termed Lyon’s Mammoth Botanical Encyclopedia, has 
been a labor of love. Prof. Lyon, assisted mainly by 
his wife, has devoted nearly a dozen years, and has 
expended a small fortune in its preparation. The work 
has been thorough, systematic, and laborious. More 
than a score of years of enthusiastic study of plants in 
their various relations to each other and to man has 
enabled Prof. Lyon to perform this self-imposed task 
with a rare degree of intelligence. Some idea of the 
extent of the collection may be obtained from the fact 
that, should a vigorous and active person undertake to 
examine it in detail, giving, say, two minutes to each 
classified subject, that person would be obliged to work 
eight hours a day for over three years, without any 
intermissions for luncheon. 
The purpose of the collection is to afford an avail¬ 
able reference library, showing the character, habits, 
localities and uses of plants—something that completely 
comprehends the science of plants. It is provided with 
an alphabetical index so thorough a layman can readily 
and quickly find anything for which he may be looking. 
The index is arranged for common as well as scientific 
names. 
In speaking of this great encyclopedia the other day 
Prof. Lyon said : “The Pictorial Library, or Cyclopedia 
of Plants, had its origin in this way ; I had taken a sort 
of pride in having a kind of library from which I could 
answer questions of all kinds immediately at any time. 
But I found that frequently people wished to see pictures 
of plants. Hours would perhaps be spent in consulting 
books in the endeavor to find the desired illustration. 
No work existed that was satisfactory in this regard. 
There were thousands of illustrated works, but nothing 
at all complete. I decided to make such a work for my 
own use and for the use of my friends. I began collect¬ 
ing additional pictures of plants from every possible 
source. After a few years spent in collecting material, 
the question of classification came up. It was difficult 
to decide upon just the right scheme. There were vari¬ 
ous classifications of plants given by different botanists. 
About this time the celebrated classification of Bentham 
and Hooker was completed in several large volumes. 
The learned authors, Bentham and Hooker, had been 
laboring for years upon this work, with all the advan¬ 
tages of the Kew Gardens, near London. Their classi¬ 
fication—the result of twenty-one years of revision—is 
regarded as more nearly a standard than any other, and 
it was taken as a standard by me ” 
Prof. Lyon has received aid from a variety of sources 
in this work. Contributions have been received from 
publishers of various botanical, horticultural, and kindred 
papers, as well as from private individuals. In the 
preparation of the material secured, covers were torn 
from books and pamphlets, and the leaves were 
taken to binderies and trimmed. The material was 
then assorted, the names of the plants were carefully 
determined, and the classification made according to the 
natural or family arrangement. The plates, cuts, and 
reading matter from many important botanical works 
have been put into Prof. Lyon’s collection. Many 
hundreds of handsome volumes, richly illustrated with 
colored plates, have been cut up to feed this mammoth 
cyclopedia. Sets of books costing $2^, ^35, ^75, and 
even ^140 have contributed their illustrations. Follow¬ 
ing are the names of some of the standard works used : 
Meehan’s “ Flowers and Ferns of the United States,” 
“ Sertum Botanicum,” Maund’s “ Botanic Garden,” Lou¬ 
don’s “ Cyclopedia of Plants,” Loudon's Cyclopedia of 
Trees and Shrubs,” Loudon’s “Arboretum and Fru- 
ticetum,” Paxton’s “Botanical Magazine,” Paxton’s 
“ Flower Garden,” Hooker’s large work on ferns. Hill’s 
“Eden,” Loddige’s “ Botanical Cabinet,” Baillon Ed¬ 
ward’s “ Botanical Register,” and all the ordinary 
botanies of England, France, Germany, and America. 
The collection also includes all the United States reports 
and the separate reports of individual states as well. 
Many hundred very fine plates from Austria, produced 
by a process of nature printing, by the royal press of 
Vienna, have been added. The practical value of this 
great botanical library is incalculable. 
Fully one-fortieth of the entire collection is devoted 
to roses, of which many thousands of pictures have been 
preserved. About one-fiftieth of the collection is given 
up to orchids, and the devotee of that much-prized 
flower could spend several months here in absorbing 
interesting information about it. There are fully 6,000 
species of orchids known, which, of course, are divided 
into their tribes, sub-tribes, genera, and species. 
