The herald., 1896-12-19

| and IL the foremen at the different sta
| tions perform their duties as laid down
/ in the rules your committee Is unable
| to see what any person has to complain
i of and we have been unable to learn tha
| any foreman has al any time failed to b'
| polite and attentive to visitors.
THE rules governing our stations ma,
be compared with those governing 9th
ers of like character
! William Trelease. director of tn,
Missouri botanical gardens, writes:
Il think it is universal rule in al
public parks and the like that person:
| plucking specimens are kept from Sc
! doing by the police. l myself carry {
permit to gather specimens in our fores
! park and have been stopped by the po
| lice when without 1t. Our own rule pro
! kibits anything Of the sort, but when
| ever permission is requested, I alway!
/ give a permit good for one day only
and with a caution that nothing in any
way injurious to the plants or remov
ing choice or rare flowers, etc., is allow
| able. I never attempted to pick mater.
ial in foreign botanical gardens, but
should expect to be arrested If tried II
without permit
c. S. Sargent of the Boston park de
partment writes: The general rules o,
the Boston park department prohibit
any one from picking flowers, leaves OF
fruits, and the arboretum comes undei
these general rules. This applies exclu-
sively to everybody. and the rules arF
strictly enforced by the police. In spe-
cial cases l issue permits to botanists
and school teachers to gather botanical
specimens in the arboretum. / an
chary, however, of giving permits, and
only do so to people who seriously wan;
to study. Probably the number given
does not exceed a half-dozen a year:
they are always made for some specified
time.
The English gardens at Kew have
rules much more restrictive than any
adopted in this country.
The general regulations of the New
York Botanical garden are perhaps next
to our own the least restricted. They
are as follows.
The said grounds shall be open and
free to the public daily. including Sun
days. subject to such restrictions as to
hours as the proper care, culture and
preservation of the said garden may re
quire, and it's educational and scientific
privileges shall be open to all alike. male
and female, upon such necessary regu-
lations, terms and conditions as shall
be prescribed by the managers of these
departments.
In this case the managers are held
responsible for the proper care of the
rules as they find necessary.
Our rules, then, do not differ from
those adopted for the government of all
other parks, gardens and forestry sta
tions. except that they are less restric
tive and give visitors less trouble in
making an inspection of the grounds or
pursuing their Investigations for scien-
tif1c or other purposes. inasmuch as
the foreman Is authorized to allow speci-
mems to be taken away.
They are practically the rules which
have been in force at the central sta
tion at Berkeley for more than a quar-
ter of a century, and have been carried
out in such a loyal and accommodating
spirit as to evoke no hostile criticism in
all that time.
Your committee has been unable to
ascertain that there has been any dis
respect shown to any visitor at any sta
tion by any foreman.
One man only with his companion
and assistant. Mr.. McClatchie). so far as
your committee can learn, has made
complaint of discourteous treatment on
the grounds. and his statement has been
denied by the affidavit of the foreman in
charge
1t is but reasonable to suppose that if
the foreman (since resigned) had been
rude and discourteous to one, he would
have been other complaints.
We are. therefore. forced to the con-
clusion that the complaining visitor was,
perhaps. nervous and took offense
The forestry stations at Santa Monica
and Chico were turned over to the agri-
cultural department of the university
by the legislature in 1893, evidently to
save expense and to some extent relieve
the over-burdened taxpayer of the
state. The appropriations to the state
board of forestry for the four years
preceding the transfer were $60,000 and
for the following four years $4,000, $4,000
in 1898. and $4,000 in 1895
When these two stations were turned
over to the university, they were in a
sadly neglected condition. lacking in
fences, teams. tools and apparatus. one
of them being without building of any
kind. Much of the land had to be cleared
of brush and weeds and broken at con-
siderable cost. and we think it must be
conceded that all it was possible to do
with such limited funds has been ac-
complished at both stations.
That no one may be in doubt as to the
purposes of the board of regents, we rec
ommend the passage of the following
resolution:
Resolved, That it is the purpose of
the board of regents, consistently with
existing regulation, to make the expert
ment in forestry stations under the
charge of the agricultural department OF
the university as useful to the people of
the state as possible, in the dssemina-
ton of knowledge obtained by expert
ments and in furnishing an interesting
field for scientific research and botan-
ical study; that all persons be invited
to visit the stations to make inquiries
Of the foreman in regard to anything of
interest to them, to obtain specimens for
practical trial or study, when, in the
opinion of the foreman, the same can
be given without detriment to the sta
ton.
Resolved, That botanists and investi-
gators may be furnished by the director
Of the experiment station with permits
for a specified time, which will serve as
prima facie evidence to the foreman
that they are to be given all reasonable
facilities for special study and for OBJ
tanning specimens. but only in accord
ance with the existing regulations
The gathering of seeds beyond the re-
quirements of botanical specimens is
expressly excepted from such permis-
sion. as the seeds are reserved for gen.
eral distribution by the station
Resolved. That all persons visiting
stations are earnestly requested to re-
port to the head of the department at
Berkeley or to the president of the uni
versity any want of polite and consid- :
crate attention on the part of the FORE
man at any station.