A  jammryfi9Mrm'}        Gardens  of  Medicinal  Plants.  27 
III.  PURPOSES  OF  GARDENS  OF  MEDICINAL  PLANTS. 
(a)  These  gardens  should  be  open  to  all,  thus  serving  as  a  very 
efficient  means  of  instructing  the  general  public. 
(b)  They  should  serve  as  a  source  of  special  instruction  to  students 
of  pharmacy  and  medicine.  Most  students  of  pharmacy  are  familiar 
only  with  the  dried  plant  parts  used  medicinally  and  the  prepara- 
tions made  therefrom,  and  have  practically  no  conception  of  the 
appearance  of  the  living  plants  from  which  these  dried  specimens 
are  obtained.  In  this  respect  students  of  medicine  know  even  less. 
These  are  deficiencies  in  the  education  of  pharmacists  and  physicians 
which  could  be  supplied  by  the  gardens  of  medicinal  plants. 
(c)  These  gardens  would  be  the  only  efficient  means  of  develop- 
ing the  possibilities  in  the  State  or  community  for  the  successful 
cultivation  of  plants  of  medicinal  value.  They  would  thus  no  doubt 
add  millions  of  dollars  annually  to  the  resources  of  the  United  States. 
They  would  be  the  means  of  opening  up  new  chemical,  pharmaceu- 
tical and  medical  laboratories  and  manufacturing  establishments, 
which  we  are  now  obliged  to  patronize  in  foreign  countries. 
(d)  In  order  that  a  maximum  of  good  or  desirable  results  may  be 
obtained  there  should  be  several  large  gardens  of  medicinal  plants 
established  in  the  United  States.  The  least  profitable  is  duplicate 
work;  it  would  therefore  be  desirable  that  these  various  gardens 
should  be  supplemental  to  each  other  in  developing  the  resources 
of  the  country  with  regard  to  medicinal  plants.  While  this  is  of  the 
highest  importance,  it  is  at  present  premature  to  formulate  a  com- 
plete plan.  A  suggestion  would  be  for  the  movers  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  various  gardens  now  planned  to  meet  in  the  near  future, 
say  at  St.  Louis  or  Kansas  City  next  summer,  and  mature  plans. 
To  illustrate,  the  following  gardens  are  already  launched  or  are 
being  planned  :  New  York  botanic  gardens  (ready  for  active  work); 
Shaw  botanic  gardens,  St.  Louis  (in  operation) ;  Philadelphia  (con- 
templated);  Ann  Arbor  garden  (in  operation);  Indiana  State  Uni- 
versity (contemplated);  and  San  Francisco  garden  (active  work 
begun).  It  might  be  suggested  that  the  New  York  garden  investi- 
gate and  develop  the  resources  of  the  southeastern  United  States, 
West  Indies  and  parts  of  South  America  ;  the  St.  Louis  gardens, 
the  Central  States,  the  southern  United  States,  Mexico  and  South 
America ;  Philadelphia,  the  northeastern  United  States,  southern 
Europe,  India  and  Asia;  Ann  Arbor,  the  northern  United  States 
