New-York tribune., 1910-08-28
NEW BOTANICAL GARDEN
DR.. eager Outlines Broad Plan to
Extend Educational Side.

With Professor William II. Goodyear
explaining from personal observation and
measurements why the Leaning Tower oG
Pisa leans and Dr. eager engaged in pre-
1in1fnary work on new botan anical gardens
the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences
is being brought prominently before the
public. Its varied treasures and the wide
scope of its work, however, deserve the
attention of thousands of persons instead
OF hundreds. for there are both pleasure
and enlightenment in inspection Professor
Goodyear and DIR. eager are members of
the institute faculty.
DIR. eager. who recently took charge
Of the botanical department of the insu-
tute, is planning forty-acre botanical gar
den in the ground back of the institute
museum, between Flatbush and Washing
ton avenues. With the 100000 contrib
uted by the city and the $4,000 added oy
public spirited citizens of Brooklyn, Dr.
eager hopes to lay out a botanical garden
which will enhance the beauty of the gen
eral plan of the institute and be of practical
utility TO students of botany. In the words
of DR.. eager: THE garden is to be an ami
mated textbook in botany.
The garden in itself. DR.. eager says, viii
be as beautiful as art and nature com
bined can make it. He will appropriate
the best features of the fine Bronx botan-
ical garden, os the famous Shaw gardens
of st. Louis and of other gardens here and
abroad.
Our main object said DR.. eager, is
to make this garden of the greatest pos
sible educational value, and there will be
more emphasis laid on teaching than in
other such gardens This we shall try to
do without sacrificing general public in
terest in the garden and without affecting
investigation and research work 1t IS orr
object to organize beginners classes in
botany, as well as classes prepared to take
up more advanced work
Grouping shall be done with more re-
gard to botanic than to aesthetic relation.
We shall try TO make the labels both eX-
pIanatory and informing to the lay mind,
and guide books and leaflets Will be sup
Piled IN order to carry out the primary
educational purposes. The ground will lend
itself admirably to the general scheme.
There are a pond, many rocks, small hills
and valleys, and we may therefore suit
ably locate a large variety of plants.
1.-The public generally should appreciate
the generous and broadminded spirit of
the city in enabling Us to undertake this
work by giving us 100000. We consider
1t privilege to work under public authori-
ties who are so responsive to modern edu-
cational demands
The laboratories and greenhouses will be
erected on the Washington avenue side of
the plot Rooms for elementary and ad-
vanced work will be in the laboratories,
with offices for the members Of the scen-
tific staff and private rooms for investigat-
ors. Some of the eight or ten greenhouses
will be used solely for experime entail and re-
search work.
DR.. eager hopes to get the Brooklyn
teachers to visit the garden regularly. be
lieving that they may learn many things
there which will be of value to them in
their botany classes. He will learn the
particular needs of each school and try 10
provide for them as far as possible.
The institute is on d tract of land at
the Eastern Parkway, containing eleven
and nine-tenths acres, valued at 81 100000.
The land was leased to the institute by the
old city of Brooklyn for term of hundred
years. The first section of the museum
building was completed in May, 1897, and
was opened to the public on June 2, 1887.
The second section was finished in 1904
and the third in 1906. When completed the
entire structure will cover $50 feet squa:e,
with four interior courts. A building III
Bedford Park, Brooklyn avenue. is used
as an auxiliary to the main building. The
institute has the following departments
of associate members: Architecture, as
tronomy, biology, botany, chemistry, do
mestic science. electricity, engineering, en-
tomology, fine arts geography, geology,
law. mathematics, microscopy, mineralogy,
music. painting, pedagogy, phiIately, phi-
lology, philosophy, photography, physics.
political science, psychology and zoology.