ARNOCO ARBORETUMP QK JOURNAL H33%,s OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM VOLUME III JANUARY, 1923 2 NUMBER 3 THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM C. S. SARGENT By his will signed on the 22d of May, 1868, James Arnold, a merchant of New Bedford, Massachusetts, gave one and one-quarter of the twenty- four parts into which he divided his residuary estate "To George B. Emerson, John James Dixwell and Francis E. Parker Esqrs. of Boston in trust: to be by them applied for the promotion of Agricultural, or Horticultural improvements, or other Philosophical, or Philanthropic purposes at their discretion, and to provide for the continuance of this Trust hereafter to such persons, and on such conditions as they, or a majority of them, may deem proper, to carry out the intention of the donor." The senior of these Trustees, Mr. George B. Emerson, a distinguished Boston schoolmaster, had long been interested in Natural History, espe- cially in trees, and had prepared for the Commonwealth a report on "The Trees and Shrubs growing naturally in the Forests of Massachusetts" pub- lished in 1846 and an authoritative work on the subject still consulted by students of trees. Mr. Dixwell, the second of these Trustees, a successful Boston business man, was also a lover and student of trees, and had assembled on his place in Jamaica Plain one of the largest and best collec- tions of native and foreign trees which was growing at this time in New England. Mr. Francis E. Parker, a Boston lawyer, was also one of the Trustees under Mr. Arnold's will. Two therefore of the three men appointed by Mr. Arnold to administer his bequest for the improvement of Agriculture or Horticulture were interested in trees and understood the importance to the world of more knowledge in regard to them than could at that time be obtained in this country; and it was natural that the idea of a scientific station for the study and cultivation of trees should have occurred to them. They fortunately realized that such an institution could be permanently and safely controlled by Harvard College. Mr. Arnold died December 3d, 1869; and on March 29, 1872, the Trus- tees under his will and the President and Fellows of Harvard College signed an indenture which contained the following provisions: " That. Whereas. the said James Arnold hu his last will deriend and 128 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [VOL. III 1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM bequeathed to the said party of the first part one and a quarter twenty- fourth parts of the residue of his estate 'in trust, to be by them applied and distinct fund, and shall allow the whole net income thereof for the promotion of agricultural or horticultural improvements, or other philosophical or philanthropic purposes at their discretion, and to provide hereinafter they see fit, one third part of such net income in each ing, deducting if the necessary expenses of managing the same, and also dedu (af for the continuance of this trust hereafter to such persons, and on such until the provided) to accumulate and add the same to the year as conditions as they or a majority of them may deem proper to carry out the intention of the donor'; and described fifty thousand dollars, and until the land at West Roxbury hereinaft al said fund shall amount, at a just valuation, to one hundred principa "Whereas, Benjamin Bussey, late of Roxbury, in the county of Norfolk, shall come into the possession of the said party of the secoi merchant, deceased, by his last will and testament devised to the said party brances. part as an estate in possession, free of all life tenancies or other encur of the second part an estate in remainder subject to certain life estates in the estate on which he had lived in said Roxbury, called 'Woodland "Second. When both said events shall have happened, that the Hill,' consisting of over two hundred acres of land, in trust and confidence said income, in every year, and add the same to the capital, as a part of tl party of the second part shall accumulate five per centum of the said sa n that they would "establish there a course of instruction in practical agri- permanent and separate trust fund. culture, in useful and ornamental gardening, in botany, and in such branches of natural science as may tend to promote a knowledge of practical agri- "Third. That the said party of the second part shall devote culture and the various arts subservient thereto and connected therewith, support of an Arboretum, to be called the remainder of the said net income in every year to the establishment an tl and cause such courses of lectures to be delivered there, at such seasons of the year and under such regulations as they may think best adapted to Arnold Arboretum, promote the ends designed,- the institution so established to be called the 'Bussey Institution'; and "Whereas, the said party of the first part have agreed and determined, herbaceous plants, either indigenous or exotic, which can be raised in an which shall contain, as far as is practicable, all the trees, shrubs, in the exercise of the discretion given them under the will of the said James as open fast air at the said West Roxbury, all which shall be raised or collecte th Arnold, that the disposition of the property devised and bequeathed to labelled, as is practicable, and each specimen thereof shall be them as aforesaid, in the manner and for the purposes and upon the con- fessor, and to the support of a professor, to be called the Arnold distinctly Pro ditions hereinafter set forth, is and will be the most suitable and proper the to the same control by the said President and Fellows subject who shall have the care and management of the said Arboretum execution of their trust, and will most effectually provide for the con- tinuance of the trust for the future, to carry out the intention of the donor, teach professors the in the Bussey Institution are now subject, and who to which shall "Now, Therefore, it is agreed, bargained, and covenanted by and as President and Fellows, and shall give such other instruction the said knowledge of trees in the University which is in the charge of between the said party of the first part and the said party of the second part, as follows:- the may be naturally, directly, and usefully connected therewith. therein "First. The said Emerson, Dixwell, and Parker, trustees, party of the best entire fund, increased by the accumulations above named, under And as first part, in consideration of the covenants, agreements, and undertakings of the said President and Fellows hereinafter set forth, do hereby give, be accomplish the proposed object, it is expressly provided that it shall to management and with the greatest economy, is barely sufficient the grant, bargain, sell, convey, assign, and transfer to the said President and or diminished by supplementing any other object, however meritorious not kindred in its nature. Fellows of Harvard College, party of the second part, and their assigns forever, the whole property and estate devised and bequeathed to them, tum without judgment of the Arnold Professor, can be spared from said Arbore- which, in Arboretum, the free of cost, any trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, said But the said President and Fellows shall be allowed to obtain from the party of the first part, under and by virtue of the will of the said James Arnold, which has been already received or shall be hereafter received by the said party of the first part (excepting and reserving therefrom a College grounds, at Cambridge or elsewhere. injury thereto, the same to be used for the ornament of the sum sufficient to pay the actual expenses incurred by said party of the first part), a schedule of which, SO far as received, is hereto annexed,- "To Have and to Hold the same to the said party of the second part, and said clause, the said party of the second part may expend one third first Fourth. Until the happening of both of the events named in the their assigns forever, in trust, with full power of sale and reinvestment, hereinafter net income in every year, and no more, in such preparation of the part land of upon the trusts following, namely, shall hold the as a separate mate necessary superintendence thereof, as will promote the general and ulti- the named, and in such collecting or raising of specimens, and JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [VOL. III 1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETU 131 30 By this indenture Harvard College received as an Endowment for the be used with certain restrictions as one of the Boston parks. The ges- proposed Arboretum $103,847.57 and agreed to use for it about one hun- tion met with little favor and was opposed by the governing BOL d of Ired and twenty-five acres of its Bussey estate. The land devoted at the College and by the Park Commissioners of Boston. The press was his time to the Arboretum had a frontage on Centre Street from the posi- indifferent, and its only enthusiastic supporters were Mr. Olmsted and ion of the present Centre Street entrance for about half the distance to the Director of the Arboretum, and several years of hard semipolitical he corner of Walter Street, on South Street from a point a short distance work were needed to make possible Mr. Olmsted's plan. On December 30, east of the present South Street entrance to the corner of Bussey Street, 1882, however, the consent of the Legislature to it having been obtained, nd for about three-quarters the length of the last named street. The the following agreement between the City of Boston through its Park northern boundary crossed the north meadow about where the group of Commission and the President and Fellows of Harvard College was signed: Phellodendrons now stands on the right hand side of the Meadow Road, "Whereas the Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Boston by und was often covered with water from the brook from Centre Street virtue of the authority conferred upon said Board by chapter one hundred which discharged its water on the undrained surface of the meadow. and eighty-five of the Acts of the Legislature of Massachusetts of the year The low land near the junction of the Meadow, Forest Hills and Bussey 1875 and by the City Council of said City of Boston, by a certain written Hill Roads, now partly occupied by the three small ponds, was an undrained instrument of even date herewith to be recorded with the Suffolk Registry ;wamp. Hemlock Hill was then perhaps more beautiful than it is now for of Deeds have taken and located as and for a public park that tract of since that time several old White Pine-trees which were then in their prime land in that part of said City known as West Roxbury held by the College and rose high above the Hemlocks have died. The valley of Bussey Brook and by it dedicated to the use of the Arnold Arboretum, so called, together it the northern base of Hemlock Hill was then covered by an almost im- with certain adjoining tracts, the property of other persons deemed by said penetrable thicket of Alders, and the western boundary of the proposed Commissioners convenient and necessary for use in connection therewith Arboretum crossed the brook a little west of the present grove of Red for the purposes and under the powers and limitations set forth in said Pines. There was no access to these one hundred and twenty-five acres act and acts in addition thereto and amendment thereof - And whereas except by a steep cart track from the entrance to the Bussey Mansion by an act of the General Court of Massachusetts passed on the twenty- across land controlled by the Bussey Institution. ninth day of March in the year 1880 it was enacted that in case the said I was appointed Director of the new Arboretum by the President and Board of Park Commissioners deemed it desirable so to take the said Fellows of the College on November 24, 1873. The prospect of being able lands for the said purposes the City was thereby authorized to lease such to establish a useful institution would not have been encouraging if the portion of the said Arboretum and adjoining tracts so taken as the said men interested in it had had at that time as much knowledge as hope and Board of Commissioners might deem not necessary for use as parkways enthusiasm. For it is safe to say that not one of them had an idea of what and grounds to the College to be held to the same uses and purposes as the an Arboretum might be, or what it was going to cost in time and money said Arboretum was then held under the trusts created by the wills of to carry out the provisions of the indenture between the Trustees under Benjamin Bussey and of James Arnold and for such a term and upon such Mr. Arnold's will and the President and Fellows of Harvard College; mutual restrictions, reservations, covenants and conditions as to the use and certainly not one of them was more ignorant of the subject than the thereof by the public in connection with the uses of the same under the said man selected to carry out the provisions of this agreement. He found trusts, and as to the rights, duties and obligations of the contracting parties himself with a worn-out farm, partly covered with natural plantations of as might be agreed upon between the said Commissioners and the College. native trees nearly ruined by excessive pasturage, to be developed into a And the Board of Park Commissioners on the part of the City and the scientific garden with less than three thousand dollars a year available President on behalf of the College were respectively authorized to execute for the purpose. He was without equipment or the support and encour- and deliver the said lease. And whereas the said Board of Park Commis- agement of the general public which then knew nothing about an Arbore- sioners deems such portion of the said Arboretum and adjoining tracts tum and what it was expected to accomplish. The work of forming a as is hereinafter described and leased to be not necessary for use as park- nursery, however, was begun at once, greenhouses of the Bussey Institution ways and grounds and considers that the same will be better and more being available for the propagation of the few plants which could at that advantageously enjoyed and used by the public as a part of the said park time be found in the neighborhood of Boston. if the same be leased to the College for the purposes of the said trusts and In 1873 Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted was engaged in planning and con- upon such terms and subject to such provisions with regard to the use structing a park system for the City of Boston and suggested that that thereof by the public as are hereinafter contained. And it has been part of the Bussey farm which was to be devoted to the Arboretum might agreed between the said 132 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [VOL. III 1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM 133 leased to the College for the term and upon the mutual restrictions, reserva- proper and substantial manner free of all charge and expense to the College tions, covenants and conditions hereinafter expressed. and its successors and assigns. That the City will during the said term "Now this Indenture witnesseth that the City by virtue and in exercise provide and maintain a proper and sufficient police in and about the of the power and authority given to it by the said Act and of every other Arnold Arboretum and the said parts excepted from these presents and power and authority it hereto enabling doth demise and lease unto the the said roads, avenues, and parkways for the preservation of order and College all that parcel of land delineated on a plan entitled 'The Arnold good conduct and the observance of the rules hereinafter mentioned or Arboretum' and to be recorded herewith in the Suffolk Registry of Deeds provided for. That no public street or highway and no steam or horse situate in that part of Boston known as West Roxbury and bounded and railway or construction for like purposes shall be laid out through or over described as follows:- any part of the Arnold Arboretum except in such places, if any, and in such manner as the Park Commissioners and the College shall approve. "Excepting and always reserving out of these presents all those parts of That if the water supply from the sources within the Arnold Arboretum the said lands delineated and marked on the said plan as driveways and which the College has heretofore enjoyed for use in the said Arboretum parkways and those parts of the same lands delineated and marked A and B shall at any time be cut off, interrupted or impaired by the City or its respectively on the said plan. And granting with the premises hereby assigns the City will immediately provide at its own charge and expense leased a free and unobstructed right of way upon and over all the said an equal or superior supply of water for the like use. And that if the excepted parts of the said lands and upon and over the driveways and College, its successors or assigns shall be desirous of taking a renewed parkways delineated on the said plan and SO marked thereon. lease of the said premises for the further term of One thousand years from "To have and to hold the premises hereby leased (hereinafter called the expiration of the term hereby granted the City or its assigns will upon the Arnold Arboretum) unto the College and its successors and assigns the request and at the expense of the College, its successors or assigns and for the term of One thousand years from the date hereof without impeach- upon its or their executing and delivering to the City or its assigns a ment of waste upon and for the same trusts, uses and purposes as those counterpart thereof forthwith execute and deliver to the College, its suc- upon and for which the said land held by the College for the purposes of cessors or assigns a renewed lease of the said premises for the further term the said Arboretum at the said time of the passing of the said Act of the of One thousand years at the same yearly rent and upon and subject to year 1880 was then held under the will of Benjamin Bussey and the will the same restrictions, reservations, covenants, and conditions as are here- of James Arnold and a certain indenture dated the 29th day of March in in contained including this present covenant and so on from time to time the year 1872 and made between George B. Emerson, John J. Dixwell forever. And the College for itself and its successors and assigns cove- and Francis E. Parker as Trustees of the will of the said James Arnold of nants with the City that the College will not commence or prosecute any the one part and the College of the other part in which indenture the trusts action, suit or other proceeding against the City for the enforcement or provided for in the said will of James Arnold are declared in pursuance recovery of any damages or claim which the College may have or be of the directions in the said will contained. Yielding and paying therefor entitled to against the City by reason of the said taking of the said during the said term the yearly rent of one dollar - And the City cove- Arboretum land by the City. And that the Arnold Arboretum shall at nants with the College and its successors and assigns that the College and all reasonable times be open to the inspection of the public as a part of its successors and assigns shall peaceably hold and enjoy the premises the said Park subject to the rules hereinafter mentioned or provided for. hereby leased during the said term without any interference or control of Provided, Always, and it is hereby declared that the City shall be at liberty the City or any person claiming through or under it. That the City will at to erect and maintain suitable gateways for entrance thereto upon any of all times save and keep harmless and indemnified the College and its suc- the said excepted parts and to maintain gates there. And that no pavil- cessors and assigns and keep the premises hereby leased free and discharged ion, kiosk, urinal, museum, greenhouse, stable, shed, or other building of and from all taxes and assessments of every description which during (except as above provided) shall be erected or maintained within the the said term may be assessed or payable in respect of or charged upon the Arnold Arboretum or in any of the said excepted parts or in any of the premises hereby leased or any part thereof. That the City will within a said driveways or parkways without the prior consent of the Park Com- reasonable time make and finish fit for use of good sound materials and missioners and the College. Provided, also, and it is hereby declared and in a proper and workmanlike manner the driveways of which the sites agreed that the use of the Arnold Arboretum and of the said excepted and dimensions are delineated on the said plan and so marked thereon parts and of the said roads, avenues and parkways by the City and its but at a cost not exceeding seventy-five thousand dollars, and that the assigns and the College, its successors and assigns and the public shall said driveways during the said term shall be repaired and maintained in a be subject. to the rules contained in the cohodule haunts JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [VOL. III 1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM 135 h additional rules as have been or may from time to time be agreed the Centre Street entrance, leased from the Trustees of the Adams Nervine n between the Park Commissioners and the College. But any of the Asylum for the purpose, and to take the place of these inadequate accom- I rules may be altered or annulled by agreement between the Park modations a modern greenhouse with cold pits and frames was built in inmissioners' and the College." 1917 on the Centre Street land for a new propagating plant. In 1919 the By this agreement the location of the Arboretum was practically fixed land of the Bussey Institution between South Street and the location of at least one thousand years, for although the College may in the the Dedham Branch of the N. Y. N. H. & H. R. R. with an area of sixteen are wish to move it to less valuable land it is not possible to conceive acres was bought for it by friends of the Arboretum from the College; t the City of Boston will ever consent to abandon the benefit it derives and in 1922 the hill surrounded by property belonging to the Park Depart- m the use of the Arboretum as a public park. By this agreement the ment of Boston, and by Centre and Walter Streets and an unnamed road poretum is relieved of the danger of taxation during the period of the connecting these streets, with an area of fourteen acres, has also been se and obtains without expense the protection of the Boston police. bought by friends of the Arboretum and presented to it. The persent return for these benefits the public is admitted to the free enjoyment area of the Arboretum is now therefore approximately two hundred and a public garden maintained with the exception of the roads by the Uni- fifty acres. sity. By this arrangement more than two-thirds of the north meadow :h the land on which the Administration Building now stands and the NATURAL FEATURES l behind it was added to the original area of the Arboretum, which also Meadows, hills and valleys are found within the boundaries of the ned an entrance from Walter Street and that part of the valley of the Arboretum. The ground rises gradually from the great meadow at its ssey Brook between Walter Street and the western boundary of the north end to the summit of Bussey Hill from which views of the Blue Hills issey Farm. In return the Arboretum gave up to the City the land now to the south and of Cambridge and Boston are obtained. From the top cupied by the Arborway between the old northern boundary of the of Bussey Hill the ground drops abruptly to South Street on the south and rth meadow and the Forest Hills entrance and the wooded slope east of to the west and southwest to the valley which extends from Centre to e Arborway. South Streets, and which at the northern base of the second of the Arbore- A few trees along the boundaries had been planted before 1882, but tum hills, Hemlock Hill, is joined nearly at right angles by the valley e City was slow in building the roads with their adjoining gravel paths, through which Bussey Brook flows from the northwest and enters the d it was not possible to begin planting trees in systematic arrangement Arboretum under Walter Street. Through the valley which separates til 1885, that is at the end of thirteen years devoted to preliminary the western base of Hemlock Hill from the third and highest of the Arbo- gotiations and the perfection of plans. retum hills, Peter's Hill, Bussey Street, a highway open to traffic, extends It was soon found that the area which in 1882 was devoted to the from Walter Street at a point near the Walter Street entrance to the rboretum was inadequate for the purpose, and that if even a small Arboretum to South Street, and separates Peter's Hill from the rest of the rt of the trees and shrubs which the College had arranged with Mr. Arboretum. The land acquired in 1919 between South Street and the rnold's Trustees was to be found in it more land was needed for the railroad drops abruptly at its eastern end from the southern base of irpose. Two estates on Centre Street with an area of about eight acres Bussey Hill to a broad low peat meadow through which a new channel etween the original western boundary of the Bussey Farm at this point for the Bussey Brook has been made; west of this "low meadow only a nd Walter Street were bought by the City for the Arboretum and the narrow strip of higher land separates South Street from the railroad. A uildings were removed from them. In 1894 the President and Fellows hill sloping to the north and east on Centre Street and separated by a E the College transferred their property west of Bussey Street, with an low depression from the base of a slope descending from Walter Street rea of seventy-five acres and known as Peter's Hill, to the Arboretum. and facing the north is the feature of the latest addition to the Arbore- 'he arrangement made in 1882 with the City of Boston for the ownership tum area. nd control of the original Arboretum was extended to the Peter's Hill The great natural feature of the Arboretum is Hemlock Hill with ddition. In 1904 a few friends of the Arboretum bought for it a house its high steep cliffs rising on the north from the Bussey Brook and nd about four thousand feet of land on Centre Street between Prince covered so thickly with Hemlock trees that the rays of the sun rarely nd Orchard Streets, Jamaica Plain, near the entrance of that name. penetrate to the ground between them. In no other public garden are The house is used as the home for the superintendent, and the grounds there such cliffs or a more beautiful remnant of a coniferous forest. Oaks attached to it as a nursery. For many years the propagation of plants and other native deciduous leaved trees from one hundred to perhaps two small niece of ground near hundred years old still small cide 6 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [VOL. III 1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM 137 n Centre Street, and on Bussey Street at the eastern base of Peter's Hill, of Pear-trees, and the collection of Poplars and Alders; below the top nd are valuable in showing several important New England trees in their of the hill and near the western boundary of the Arboretum is a large dult state. mixed plantation of deciduous-leaved trees in which are found some of the ARRANGEMENT OF THE LIVING PLANTS rarest and most interesting species in the whole collection, for this exposed hilltop has proved favorable to the growth of several trees which have not The trees which have been planted are arranged in botanical sequence flourished in the Arboretum at lower levels. The land between South 1 family groups, the genera of each family and the species of each genus Street and the railroad will be used for new and enlarged collections of eing placed together, the arrangement beginning with the Magnolia Poplars and Willows, and the addition between Centre and Walter will be family at the Jamaica Plain Gate and ending with the Pinaceae at the chiefly planted with trees which require deep soil and good drainage to Walter Street Gate. enable them to grow to a large size and live to old age. That they may show their habit under different conditions several The regions represented by the living collections are the cool temperate individuals of important North American species have been planted close and colder parts of North America, Europe and Asia, including the ;ogether in groups, and at a distance from the group an individual of higher altitudes of the Himalayas and other more southern mountains. the species is planted with sufficient space about it to insure a full develop- No plants from the southern hemisphere, not even from the high Andes, ment of branches. A representative of almost every genus stands near a southern Chile or the higher mountains of New Zealand have proved drive SO that visitors passing along the Arboretum roads and gravel paths hardy in the Arboretum. It is believed that there are now growing in the can obtain an idea of the genera of trees hardy in Massachusetts and of Arboretum between five and six thousand species and varieties of trees their relation to each other. An attempt has been made to place the and shrubs which belong to the following Families and Genera: Family groups in positions where the trees may find favorable conditions for growth without interfering with the beauty of hills and valleys, and GYMNOSPERMAE of the natural woods. Access to the different groups of all the trees is Ginkgoaceae Larix secured by grass-covered paths several miles in length which reach every Ginkgo Libocedrus part of the Arboretum and make easy the examination of the trees. Taxaceae Picea Hardy shrubs of genera in which there are not species which are trees are Pinus arranged in the same sequence as the trees in parallel beds ten feet wide Cephalotaxus Taxus Pseudolarix with a total length of 7765 feet, and separated by grass-covered paths. This shrub collection is situated on the level ground near the Forest Hills Torreya Pseudotsuga entrance and is surrounded by a trellis on which are grown vines and other Pinaceae Sciadopitys Abies Taxodium climbing plants. It has been established for the instruction of gardeners, landscape gardeners and others interested in shrubs who can find in it all Cedrus Thuja the perfectly hardy species of many genera conveniently arranged for com- Chamaecyparis Tsuga parative study. Insufficient space in the area devoted to this shrub col- Cryptomeria Gnetaceae lection has made it necessary to arrange the shrubs belonging to genera Cupressus Ephedra in which some of the species are trees in groups as near as possible to the ANGIOSPERMAE trees of the same genus or Family; as, for example, the Spindle-trees MONOCOTYLEDONEAE (Evonymus) and the Sumachs (Rhus) on opposite sides of the Meadow Road, the Lilacs below the Ash-trees on the left hand side of the Bussey Gramineae Liliaceae Road, the Viburnums near the junction of the Bussey and Valley Roads, Arundinaria Smilax and the Kalmias and Rhododendrons at the base of Hemlock Hill. Large Phyllostachys Yucca numbers of shrubs have also been planted to form margins to the roads Sasa and an undergrowth among the groups of trees, native shrubs having been DICOTYLEDONEAE chiefly used for this purpose in order to preserve as far as possible a New England character. Peter's Hill has been used for an extension of the Salicaceae Myricaceae Pinetum, for the principal collection of Hawthorns which occupies its Populus Comptonia eastern slope, for a large supplementary collection of Crabapples and species Salix Myrica 164 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [VOL. III 1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM 165 Director brought back from Japan a collection of about one thousand THE LIBRARY specimens. It was later enriched by the specimens collected in Japan, The Library of the Arboretum now contains 35,500 bound volumes and northern China and Korea by Mr. J. G. Jack of the Arboretum staff, by 8000 pamphlets. It was begun in 1873 when the Director bought for his Purdom, Meyer, Sargent and Hers in northern China, by Henry in western own use a few books needed for the arrangement of the future Arboretum. China, by the collections of E. H. Wilson in western China, Korea and the This small library was gradually increased and when a few years later it entire Japanese Empire of about 8500 specimens, by the specimens collected was determined to prepare at the Arboretum an account of the trees of by C. Schneider in southwestern China, and by several collections of the North America additional works on dendrology and descriptive botany plants of the Philippine Islands made under the direction of the Philippine essential to the production of that work were obtained by him. In 1892 Bureau of Science. the six thousand volumes which had by that time been accumulated were The herbarium contains several collections made from trees and shrubs presented by the Director to the University, accommodations for a library cultivated in Europe. The most important of them were inade by Mr. having at that time been provided by the Arboretum. George Nicholson in the Royal Gardens at Kew, by Dr. C. Naudin at the The Arboretum Library contains the books in all editions and languages Villa Thuret at Antibes in France, by A. Rehder and C. Schneider chiefly devoted to the description of trees. Its collection of Floras partly devoted in Germany, and by H. Zabel of Muenden, Germany, containing the types to trees and monographs of genera in which trees and shrubs are described, of the numerous species, varieties and hybrids published by him. is a large one. The collections of books and papers descriptive and cul- The attempt has been made in the Arboretum herbarium to show in tural of various groups of plants like Conifers, Rosa, Rhododendron, Cra- the case of important trees the varieties and range of the species, and from taegus, Quercus, Salix, etc., are as nearly complete as it has been possible to one hundred to three hundred sheets are occasionally devoted to the illus- make them. A complete collection of the works of Linnaeus is found in tration of a single species and its varieties; in the case of trees like Oaks the Library; and it is believed that outside the walls of the British Museum and Hickories the sheets are accompanied by many bottles of nuts. there is not a more complete collection of the books relating to plants pub- The Pinaceae is the family best represented in the Arboretum her- lished in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The collection of books of barium. All the genera and all the species of this Family are represented travel in which occur descriptions of trees or aspects of vegetation is a large with the exception of six Araucarias from New Caledonia, two species of and interesting one and contains a few rare volumes. Little attention has Callitris and three species of Agathis from northern Australia, one Juniper been paid to books relating to the description and care of the fruit trees from San Domingo and another from the Azores. Many of the species are usually cultivated in cold countries, for such works on pomology are found represented by long series of specimens and by enough cones to show the in libraries devoted to horticulture. There are, however, a large number of range of their variation. books relating to the history and cultivation of trees and shrubs valued for The herbarium contains the types of nearly all the new Chinese species special products like tea, coffee, cocoa, oranges and their allies, cinchona, published by the Arboretum in Plantae Wilsonianae, the new species pub- olives and the mulberry in its relation to the manufacture of silk as it has lished in Garden and Forest, in Trees and Shrubs, and in the Journal of seemed desirable that this library should contain all books relating to the Arnold Arboretum, and of the new species and varieties of Crataegus, woody plants with the exception of those which are more valuable in a Carya, Quercus, Tilia, Aesculus and other genera published by the Director. purely horticultural library. There is not a complete collection of books In its early years the office of the Arboretum and the herbarium and on forestry in the Arboretum library, although it contains much that has Library were established in a house in Brookline controlled by the Director, been written on this subject especially that which is descriptive of the early but in 1892 Mr. Horatio Hollis Hunnewell, a constant and devoted friend efforts at forest management in the United States and Europe. Only a few to the Arboretum, as have been his sons, furnished the money for the books on paleobotany, vegetable pathology, physiology and entomology brick building near the Jamaica Plain entrance, and late in that year the are now found in it. Its rapid growth in directions of more immediate offices for administration, the herbarium and the library were moved into it. importance in the arrangement and study of the collections of living plants This building also contains a collection of specimens of the wood and bark has made it impossible to devote to these subjects the attention their of most of the trees of the United States, a gift with the cases in which they importance demands. Such books will in time find a place in the library are arranged of the late Morris K. Jesup of New York. In 1905 a fireproof intended to furnish the best possible opportunity for the study of trees. four-storied wing was added to the Administration Building to contain The library is fortunate in the possession of a large number of complete the herbarium which is now arranged in steel cases extending to the ceiling sets of rare periodicals including two hundred which are now discontinued; of the low-studded and well lighted rooms conveniently arranged for the it receives regularly the numbers of three hundred serials more or less de- study of the specimens. voted to trees and their cultivation. 166 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [VOL. III 1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ALBORED Ure In 1904 Miss Ethelyn M. Tucker joined the staff of the Arboretum to for the Arboretum; The Cherries of Japan (1916) by Mr. Wilson; The assist in the care of the library and to prepare a Catalogue of its contents. Conifers and Taxads of Japan (1916) by Mr. Wilson; A Monograph of In 1918 she was appointed Librarian. The books in the library have been Azaleas by Messrs. Wilson and Rehder (1921); twelve volumes of the systematically arranged by her under the system usually followed in Ameri- Bulletin of Popular Information (1911-22); the first three volumes of the can libraries and are fully and completely catalogued. When Miss Tucker Journal of the Arnold Arboretum (1919-22); and an illustrated Guide to began in 1904 to prepare the manuscript for a printed Catalogue the library the Arnold Arboretum (1911) with a second edition in 1921. contained 10,000 volumes; when the first volume of the catalogue was The following are some of the works which have been prepared by the printed in 1914 the number had increased to 30,000. The printed catalogue Director in this library but were not published by the Arboretum: Report is contained in two quarto volumes. The first, which is devoted to peri- on the Forests of North America, being the ninth volume of the Final odicals and to authors and titles, contains 782 two-column pages, and in Reports of the Tenth Census of the United States (1884); The Woods of the second volume, which appeared in 1917 contains 542 two-column pages, the United States with an account of their structure, qualities and uses the books are arranged according to subjects. (1885); The Silva of North America in fourteen volumes with seven hun- Early in the formation of the library it became evident that to build up dred and forty plates (1891-1902); Trees and Shrubs; illustrations of new a dendrological library and to carry on at the Arboretum a critical study or little known ligneous plants, prepared chiefly from material at the of trees and other woody plants more information about the literature of Arnold Arboretum (1905-1913), largely by officers of the Arboretum. The trees than could be found in any printed bibliography was necessary. To ten volumes of Garden and Forest, a journal of horticulture, landscape art meet this difficulty a plan was carefully worked out for a bibliography to and forestry (1887-1897), were edited in the Arboretum library, in which contain a reference to every book, every magazine article and every paper Mr. Alfred Rehder has prepared the descriptions of a large part of the trees in the Transactions of Learned Societies relating to trees or shrubs in all and shrubs included in Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Horticulture and languages published before the end of the nineteenth century. This in the second edition of that work, The Standard Cyclopedia of Horti- work was entrusted to Mr. Alfred Rehder, at that time assistant in the culture. Herbarium, who began work on it in March 1900, and devoted his time to it until the printing of the last volume was finished. During the preparation PHOTOGRAPHS of this book Mr. Rehder visited every library in the eastern United States The Arboretum collection of photographs now contains nine thousand in which botanical or horticultural books are found, and during two visits six hundred pictures of trees and shrubs, types of vegetation, gardens and in Europe extending over a period of twenty-seven months studied in scenery. The photographs are mounted on cards 113/4 inches long and 91/2 the botanical libraries of Great Britain, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, inches wide and are arranged systematically in steel drawers. The two Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy and Russia. The name of this work is thousand eight hundred pictures made by Wilson in eastern Asia and the Bradley Bibliography as it was partly paid for from the income of a Australasia form the most valuable and interesting part of this collection. gift made in 1897 to the Arboretum by Miss Abby A. Bradley of Hingham The Arboretum photographs have been carefully catalogued by Miss as a memorial to her father William Lambert Bradley. The first two vol- Tucker and can be easily and quickly examined. This collection proves umes devoted to an enumeration of works on Dendrology, were issued to be an important and useful addition to both the Library and Herbarium. in 1911, and in 1912. Volume iii. devoted to Arboriculture and the Economic Properties of Woody Plants appeared in 1915; volume iv. con- EDUCATION taining an enumeration of works on Forestry, in 1914, and the fifth and final volume, which contains the Index of Authors and Titles and a The Arboretum in the conception of its managers is a museum subject Index of the whole work, in 1918. The five volumes of the Bradley founded and carried on to increase the knowledge of trees. This they have Bibliography contain rather more than one hundred thousand titles of endeavored to do by a collection of living plants arranged for convenient books and papers relating to trees and shrubs printed on three thousand examination and study, by the distribution of surplus material obtained seven hundred and eighty-nine two-column quarto pages. in the Arboretum explorations, and by the publication of the results of the Other works prepared in the Library and Herbarium and published by dendrological investigations carried on in its laboratories. That they have the Arboretum are,- been at least partly successful is shown by the standing of the Arboretum The Pines of Mexico (1909) and a monograph of the Genus Pinus (1914) in the estimation of the men in different countries best able to judge of its by Mr. George R. Shaw; The Plantae Wilsonianae (in 3 vol. 1913-17), usefulness. being an account of the plants collected in western China by E. H. Wilson No attempt has been made to give instruction at the Arboretum to 168 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [VOL. III 1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM 169 classes of University undergraduates. A few special students, often in the Civil War and was several times wounded. On his discharge from recent years from China and Japan, are received by Professor J. G. Jack service in 1864 Dawson entered the employ of Hovey & Company of Cam- who for many years now has given field lessons during the spring and bridge, at that time one of the important commercial nurseries of the autumn months among the collections of trees. In the answers to the United States. In 1871 he was made head gardener of the School of Horti- letters which come to the Arboretum, as to all museums, asking for infor- culture at the Bussey Institution by Francis Parkman, the first professor mation, help and instruction are freely given. of that department in the School, a position which he filled for three years The Arnold Arboretum is not a School of Forestry or of Landscape when he became superintendent of the Arboretum. Dawson had the real Gardening. It is a station for the study of trees as individuals in their love for plants and an exceptional knowledge of them. As a plant propa- scientific relations, economic properties and cultural requirements and gator it is not possible that any one could have been his superior. No possibilities. On the information gathered in museums like the Arnold problem in propagation was ever too difficult for him to solve. At the Arboretum successful silviculture and landscape gardening are dependent, Arboretum he was compelled to work in crowded quarters with insufficient for silviculture is the cultivation on a large scale of the trees most valuable appliances, and in spite of this handicap he raised for the Arboretum during in a particular locality, and landscape gardening demands a knowledge his forty-two years of service probably more than a million plants, and of the individual plants which can be naturally associated for the decoration there are now few public or private gardens in the northern hemisphere of parks and gardens. which have not been enriched by his labors. Dawson served the Arbore- No account of the Arnold Arboretum is complete without mention of tum faithfully and made many friends for it; and without his assistance it two remarkable men who have died in its services. would have been impossible to make the collections of living plants what CHARLES EDWARD FAXON, one of three brothers who devoted the best they are today. part of their lives to the study of Natural History, was born in 1846 in FUTURE NEEDS Jamaica Plain where he died in 1918. As a boy he had begun to study the New England flora and to show his ability to draw by his copies. in color of During its first fifty years the area occupied by the Arboretum has been Audubon's pictures of birds. Before 1870 he had made most of the colored increased from one hundred and twenty-five to two hundred and fifty acres. drawings to illustrate Eaton's "Ferns of North America"; and from 1879 The endowment has been increased from $103,847.57 to $808,175.75, and a to 1884 he was instructor in botany at the Bussey Institution. In 1882 construction fund of $129,257 immediately available for improvements when the plan was made to prepare at the Arboretum an illustrated work has been accumulated. on the trees of North America Faxon was invited to make the drawings for The greatest collection of the hardy trees and shrubs of the northern it. At this time he took charge of the herbarium and library which he hemisphere has been made and arranged, and many new plants largely continued to manage until his death. His knowledge of botany, especially discovered through its explorations have been distributed. of the flora of eastern North America, his love of books and his remarkable It has established the largest and most important herbarium in the faculty for learning foreign languages were of great value in the organiza- world devoted exclusively to preserving the records of trees and shrubs, tion and care of these departments. During twenty-one years Faxon was and a library which within the limits of its special subjects is not surpassed. engaged on the seven hundred and forty-four drawings which illustrate the More important than these are the friendly relations it has established with "Silva of North America," and during his twenty-six years of service for the students and cultivators of trees in all parts of the world, for through the Arboretum nineteen hundred and twenty-four of his drawings of plants these relations it will be able to increase and extend its usefulness. were published. To his work he brought enthusiasm, industry, good taste, In discussing the future of the Arboretum and its needs it must be re- a thorough understanding and love of his subjects, an unusually skilful membered that during its first half century it has been managed not merely pencil, and skill in microscopic analysis. No other American botanical as a New England museum but as a national and international institution artist has had his experience and industry, and no one has contributed working to increase knowledge of trees in all parts of the world and as more to the reputation of the Arboretum and the value of its publications. anxious to help a student in Tasmania or New Caledonia as in Massachu- JACKSON T. DAWSON was the first superintendent of the Arboretum and setts. An institution with such ambitions must be equipped to answer any continued to fill this position and that of propagator until his death in the question about any tree growing in any part of the world which may be summer of 1916. Born in the East Riding of Yorkshire in 1841 Dawson addressed to it. During the first fifty years of the Arnold Arboretum only was brought when a child to this country by his mother and when eight the foundations of such an establishment have been laid, but in laying years old was started in gardening in an uncle's nursery in Andover, Massa- these foundations some of the needs of the future are made clear. These chusetts. He served for three years in a Massachusetts regiment during are, 170 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [VOL. III 1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM 171 First: The collection of more information about the trees in many parts produced shrubs which are the chief ornament of many gardens. Less has of the world than can now be found here. Such information can be ob- been done in attempting to improve trees by the mixing of different species. tained only in small part by correspondence and the information which the Hybrid trees especially among Oaks often occur in this country. Several Arboretum needs can only be successfully obtained by agents sent out to of these trees are already in this Arboretum where they grow more rapidly obtain it. It is desirable that the work which the Arboretum has begun and are often hardier than their parents. Natural hybrids of Poplar-trees in eastern continental Asia should be continued and if possible completed. are common and often grow more rapidly than their parents; and a number The flora of the coastal region north of latitude 45, including Kamtschatka, of hybrid Poplars have been raised artificially in Europe and promise to is still very imperfectly known. From this region trees and shrubs, still become valuable trees. One of the largest, hardiest and most rapid-grow- unknown in gardens, which will grow in New England can probably be ing of all Elm-trees is a natural hybrid between two European species. obtained. Explorations in the northern part of Kansu, the great northwest The best Hickory-nuts are produced by trees which are natural hybrids; province of China, may also be expected to enrich northern gardens. The and one of the largest and handsomest hybrid Oak-trees in the United flora of China south of the Yang-tze-kiang River and east of the Poyang States has also been artificially reproduced by crossing the two species which Lake is still little known; and the trees of Cochinchina (Tonkin, Annam were the parents of the natural hybrid. Judging by what little is now and Siam) are still badly represented in the Arboretum herbarium; and known about hybrid trees it does not seem improbable that new races of Harvard College will not have fulfilled its agreement with the Arnold trees may be produced artificially which will contribute materially to the Trustees until it has caused to be explored through the Arboretum the value of the forest products of the world and increase the beauty of parks forests which cover the ranges of the Altai Mountains which form the and gardens. The Arnold Arboretum with its great collections and its southern boundary of central Siberia and the great interior region south of connection with the principal cultivators of plants is now the best place for these mountains. breeding new trees and. shrubs in the United States. Plant breeders from If the Arboretum is to become a great institution for gathering and all parts of the country send to it for the material needed in their work but spreading information about trees and allied plants specimens and a series this work can best be done here. of photographs of every species of tree in the world should be found in its Fifth: A Rose Garden and a Rock Garden if planned comprehensively herbarium. The work which it has accomplished in its first fifty years in would add much to the horticultural value of the Arboretum, and bring North America and the Japanese Empire should be extended over the rest many visitors to it. of the world. For the trees of the tropics this is now important as tropical Only a larger endowment is needed to make possible these Arboretum forests are fast disappearing to make room for plantations of rubber-pro- activities and extensions. ducing and other economic plants. The best soil is selected for these plantations, and as with few exceptions the largest and best individuals of a species are produced in the best soil, many species, or certainly their best representatives, must disappear, and in the future the student of trees must depend for any knowledge of many trees on the material and information preserved in institutions like the Arnold Arboretum. The exploration of the tropical forests of the world will require perhaps a century and a large expenditure of money to accomplish. It is work that this Arboretum should begin and steadily push forward. Second: The Arboretum requires a properly equipped department for the study of the diseases of trees in this country and in other parts of the world. Third: The Arboretum requires a department in which the study of insects dangerous to trees and the methods for their control can be carried on in connection with the other investigations undertaken by the Arbore- tum and controlled by it. Fourth: The Arboretum needs a department for the breeding of new races of plants. The world already owes much to the intelligence and skill of the plant breeder. He has increased the value of many farm crops and has NOTES: Sutton, S.B. Charles Sprague Sargent and the Arnold Arboretum. 1970. Ch. 13: Cites (p. 315) the "giddy reminiscences" of Gladys Brooks recalling a year studying taly landscape gardening at the Arboretum. Gladys was a generous benefactor for years to the arboretum. Both she and a Elizabeth Hoyt came from socially prominent and well-to-do families. Charles Sargent advanced into old age with majesty he moved through his days 20.00 with the deliberate, assured pace that had served him all his adult years, toward Add, X death, which neither attracted nor frightened him." (p. 321). Sargent engaged men in research versed in both botany and ghorticulture, a relatively rare combination. In general the rule was that botanists worked with wild plants, horticulturists with cultivated species, "and the two seldom met. Men like X Torrey, Engelmann, and Gray had no serious interest in garden plants; and P 327 horticulturists dids not bother their heads with botanical literature. But the backbone of the arboretum [including Sargent, Alfred Rehder, Wilson, and Jack] dealt with both." For they were experienced field botanists, knew taxonomic techniques, familiar with both popular and scientific literature, and knew cultivated plants. They kept themselves informed "about decisions of botanical societies, forestry associations, conservation lobbies, and horticultural clubs. 1707 Bit S.B.Sutton. The Arboretum Administrators: An Opinionated History [The author of this article has been associated with the Arnold Arboretum since 1963. For two years she was secre- tary to the present Director; for four years she worked on a biography of the first Director; on other occasions she has scru- tinized Arboretum history more closely than most. The admin- istration of the Arnold Arboretum, to which this paper is largely addressed, has long interested her. However, she confesses that her association with Dr. Howard and her prolonged study of Sargent have influenced her views. She does not believe that purely "objective" history is worth much or, for that matter, that another person would necessarily produce a less opinion- ated discussion of this topic. Nevertheless, she feels it only fair to warn readers of her prejudices.] Charles Sargent was a despot. Though it is currently unfash- ionable to praise despotism - and the author instinctively mis- trusts tyranny in any form - both the historical record and the existing Arnold Arboretum justify, in retrospect, Sargent's brand of directorship. With the advantage of hindsight, one even suspects that the aggressive exercise of power was the only 1,873 solution to the administrative problems that faced him when y the Harvard Corporation appointed him to his post in 1873. andy 1916 He did not make a conscious decision for absolutism; to assume authority came naturally to him. He was a Boston Sargent, and Boston Sargents were traditionally willful people, in public service or the professions, as artists or merchants. One senses authority in the gallery of family portraits reproduced in the Sargent genealogy as one senses it in the gruff likenesses of Charles Sargent which, for better or for worse - but surely for posterity - adorn the Arboretum Administration Building in Jamaica Plain. Sargent confronted a desperate situation: 125 acres of what he called "worn-out farm" and an available income of less than 3 Arnoldia 32, H L (1972) Charles Sprague Sargent circa 1907. Pp- 2-21. 4 ARNOLDIA James Arnold $3,000 per year from the James Arnold estate with which to convert it into an arboretum. His grasp of the notion of "arbo- retum" was, at best, vague, and he had no formal training in either horticulture or the botanical sciences. He came to the Arnold Arboretum, on the strength of family reputation and social connections, as a man with an unremarkable record of dalliance Looking for early evidence of aptitude for his career at Harvard, one notes only that he had managed his father's Brookline estate quite nicely for a few years. It would appear, therefore, that the Harvard Corporation did not consider either the Arnold Arboretum or its directorship very important. Sargent's dynamic administration made them change their minds. Under his rule - which lasted more than half the cen- tury being celebrated this year - the worn out farm grew into a handsome botanical garden; a scientific program developed, and the library and herbarium were amassed to support it: ex- The Arboretum Administrators 5 plorers collected new plants in exotic places; the endowment increased to perpetuate the institution and its work ad infinitum. By the time Sargent died, in 1927, the Arnold Arboretum had an international reputation as a place of scenic beauty and as a leader in the plant sciences. Four men have administered the Arnold Arboretum since Sargent: Oakes Ames (1927-1935), Elmer Drew Merrill (1935- 1946), Karl Sax (1946-1954), and Richard A. Howard (1954-). Like Sargent, each one has left his mark, by default or design, and some have been better administrators than others. They have differed in personality, style, background, physique, and scientific orientation. In fact, aside from their involvement with the Arboretum, no one characteristic is common to all of them. Their collective recommendations and decisions are re- sponsible for the institution as it is today: the garden at Jamaica Plain, the expanded physical facilities in Weston and Cam- bridge, the research collections, the publications, and the sci- entific program. Sargent: Benevolent Despot No one can deny that the Arnold Arboretum is, above all, Sargent's creation. He was, as observed earlier, an autocrat, a man of financial substance from the top of the social heap. Though the United States had no royalty - and Sargent him- self thought kings and queens frilly excesses - the so-called Boston Brahmins lived very regally indeed. Sargent's house- hold servants dressed in livery; Sargent took a dim view of universal sufferage and graduated taxation. He did not possess a democratic soul. He was haughty, stern, abrupt, stubborn, and sometimes tactless; he was also strong, clever, relentless, a good judge of men, and wealthy. What he lacked in scientific experience at the beginning of his career, he compensated for with administrative imagination and money. Though the original situation - the neglected farmland and the insignificant funds - had nightmarish aspects, Sargent had one colossal advantage over every other administra- tor who followed him: he started from scratch. He did not owe obeisance to traditions and he was not bound by others' decisions. It was for him to interpret the meaning of "arbore- N tum," only barely outlined in the indenture between Arnold's trustees and Harvard University, and to define the scope of 1916 its work. In the initial throes of enthusiasm, Sargent made grandiose plans: impractical planting schemes, forestry plots, an elaborate indoor museum. But nature, experience, and ad- 6 ARNOLDIA vice - some of which, one notes, he had the wisdom to accept effectively prevented him from over-committing himself. He altered his proposed planting pattern to conform with ecological necessities instead of textbooks; he gave up his forestry plot altogether; he drew realistic perimeters around his idea of a museum. He was fortunate to be able to draw on the opinions of great men: Asa Gray, Sir Joseph Hooker, F. L. Olmsted, John Muir, and others. Sargent refused to permit institutional poverty to obstruct the growth of the Arboretum. In this respect, his personal fortune and social status were indispensable. What the Arnold income could not pay for, Sargent covered out of his own pocket or begged from his friends. When Olmsted's firm had to be paid for pre- paring landscape plans, Sargent raised $2,000 in less than twenty-four hours. For decades he authorized expenditures of several thousands of dollars beyond the budget and solicited donations from Boston society to balance his books. For ex- ample, a $30,000 gift from Horatio Hollis Hunnewell built the main section of the Administration Building in Jamaica Plain in 1892. Furthermore, in addition to meeting his immediate needs, Sargent collected funds for the endowment to secure a financial footing for the future. By contemporary standards his patrons were few in number but exceptionally generous with their checkbooks. The Director, appreciative of their confidence, rewarded them with results at the Arboretum, gifts of rare plants, and personal attention. One of the by -products of Sargent's skillful fund raising was that it won him leverage within the University. Had he not demonstrated his considerable financial talents early in his ad- ministration, it is unlikely that the Harvard Corporation would have permitted him to negotiate with the City of Boston to share in the Arboretum venture. As it was, most University officials were lukewarm to the idea, and President Charles Eliot was downright hostile to it. Yet this was undoubtedly Sargent's most significant decision, and he and Olmsted fought fiercely for public and political support of their scheme. Thanks to the 1882 agreement between Harvard and the City (by which the City took over ownership of the land, leasing it back to the University for a dollar per year, and contracted to build and maintain the roads, provide a water supply and police protec- tion in exchange for use of the Arboretum as a free public park), the Arboretum was masterfully landscaped by Olmsted and was able to develop on a much greater scale than it could have achieved as a private university botanical garden. Administration Building, 1890. Photo by Boston Park Commission. The combination of financial backing, the contract with the City, and geographic alienation from Cambridge made Sargent more independent of Harvard than any of his successors; and because the Arboretum was, so to speak, his baby, he oversaw its development with a thoroughness that no subsequent admin- istrator duplicated. He made daily tours of the grounds, super- vised the growth of the library and herbarium, carried on voluminous correspondence, checked on seedlings in the green- house, and controlled every penny of income and expenditure. He assembled a superior staff (Alfred Rehder, C. E. Faxon, Jackson Dawson, and E. H. Wilson were its prominent mem- bers) as much by luck as by good judgment. He treated them with feudal deference, remaining socially and personally aloof; but he was quick to delegate responsibility to those who could handle it and credit to those who deserved it. Though dread- fully underpaid, the staff were fiercely loyal to him and the Arboretum, perhaps inspired by his dedication and by the cer- tainty that he would come to their aid in a crisis. Despite his administrative load and nagging physical ail- ments, Sargent produced his report on forest trees of North America for the 1880 Census, the classic fourteen volume Silva, the more compact Manual, and many short botanical works. The Arboretum Administrators 9 He crusaded for national park legislation and he travelled ex- tensively in North America and throughout the world. He be- gan every manuscript or trip with the Arboretum in mind and, indeed, his individual efforts contributed significantly to the institution's reputation. He seemed never to stop working and did not differentiate among weekdays, weekends. and holidays. In the process, he shortchanged his personal life, as have many other ambitious, vigorous men. Sargent lived until 1927 and retained the post of Director until his dying day. He had, therefore, a chance which arrives to few men: to manipulate his dream for a long time and to watch it mature. He also had more time to make mistakes, but they were surprisingly few. He blundered into naming hundreds of species in the genus Crataegus and planting the whole Peters' Hill tract with the troublesome creatures. He stubbornly insisted - for what reason I cannot fathom - that a particular mountain in northeastern China supported a rich ligneous flora and wasted Arboretum money and the time of two explorers (Frank Meyer and William Purdom) to have it investigated. In a foul-tempered spat with federal authorities, he cancelled the Arboretum plant introduction program during the early 1920s. He argued needlessly with Gifford Pinchot over national forest policy. But none of Sargent's mistakes did se- rious damage to the Arboretum. If one wishes to criticize Sar- gent as an administrator, one might say that his intensely per- sonal, autocratic, and independent directorship unwittingly created problems for his followers. Yet it is difficult to imagine that more could have been accomplished for the Arboretum by either another man or another style of leadership, Ames: Remote Control Nothing demonstrates the absolutism of Sargent's office more dramatically than the panic that seized the Arboretum staff after his death. Rehder believed a rumor that all scientific work would be abandoned and that the grounds would remain open as a park. Wilson, who had been Assistant Director since 1919 and was in temporary command, was equally apprehensive and took immediate steps to cut back expenses. So closely had the Arboretum been identified with a single man that it seemed as though the one could not survive without the other. But the doubters sold Sargent short. He had planned for the future all along. Sargent's sovereignty had long been a thorn in Harvard's side, but during his lifetime the Corporation had not mounted