Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/368

336 botanical garden of Buitenzorg, the most celebrated, the surface of which covers one hundred and forty-eight acres and a quarter, situated in the city next to the residence of the governor; the agricultural garden of Tjikeumenh, of one hundred and seventy-



three acres; and the garden of forestry, with a reserve in the virgin forest, which together occupy seven hundred and forty-one acres.

The climate of Buitenzorg and its vicinity is especially favorable the development of plants. It is at the same time very warm, the mean temperature being 82° or 83° F., while during the dry monsoon the thermometer may rise to nearly 90° F. The constant moisture, afforded by a rainfall that amounts to more than twelve feet of water a year, gives the culmination of these conditions. In Holland, where it rains a great deal, the annual mean is only about twenty-six inches.

A number of the trees in the garden have grown extraordinarily. Some palm trees of the genus Oreodaxa, planted when very young along the borders of an alley, grew in five years to a height of more than thirty-two feet; while plants of Albizzia Moluccanna grew in the same time to about sixty-five feet. The section of palms, the ferns, climbing plants, and gigantic lianas surpasses in interest all that can be found in any other botanical gardens.

As a result of the perfect scientific arrangement of the garden, the stranger, with a plan in his hand, which is furnished gratuitously to all who wish to work there, can find his way at once to whatever section he is most interested in. Numbers, referred to the catalogue, are marked on each species of the several families. When foreign students arrive, they are received immediately by