Botanical Gardens and ManAuthor(s): Arthur W. HillSource: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 53, No. 5 (Nov., 1941), p. 439Published by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/17541 .

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LIAND UTILIZATION IN COS'TA RICA 439

country, and on a small scale resembles Mexico City or Havana.

THE RESORT INDUSTRY

Costa Rica is mnaking every effort to attract tourists. The excellent weekly steamship service of several lines calling at the ports of Lin-on and Puntarenas and the regular service of Pan-American Airways are giving the country contacts with the United States and other parts of the outside world. The railroad to the plateau from either coast provides the tourist a seen-ic trip to the capital city and other points of interest on the plateau. In addi-tion Costa Rica is be- ginning to build good highways into the mountain country. The governlment has not beeii slow in recognizing the advan- tages gained from tourist trade, and by means of the National Tourist Board of Costa Rica is nmaking every effort to acquaint the world with the country. Truly this republic is shaking off the

bonds of isolation that it endured for more than three centuries after the founding of Cartago.

REFERENCES

1. Redfield, Arthur A., "IThe Petroleum Possi- bilities of Costa Rica, ' Economic Geol- ogy, Vol. 18 (1923), pp. 354-381.

2. Reed, W. W., ''Climatological Data for Cen- tral America, ' Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 51 (1923), pp. 133-141.

3. Gill, Tom, "Tropical Forests of the Carib- bean,'' pp. 157-158.

4. Price, A. Grenfell, " White Settlers in the Tropics, ' pp. 122-429.

5. Waibel, Leo, "'White Settlement in Costa Rica,'" Geographical Review, Vol. 29 (1939), pp. 529-560.

6. Crother, Samuel, "'The Romance and Rise of the American Tropics," pp. 143-161.

7. Cutter, Victor M., "'Caribbean Tropics in Commercial Transition," Economic Geog- raphy, Vol. 2 (1926), pp. 494-507.

8. Keithan, Elizabeth F., " Cacao in Costa Rica,'" Economic Geography, Vol. 16 (1940), pp. 79-86.

9. Hearst, Louise, ''Coffee Industry of Central America," Economic Geography, Vol. 8 (1932), pp. 53-66.

BOTANICAL GARDENS AND MAN "'MAN was lost and found in a garden! '' In

a garden may be found both rest and refresh- ment to soul and body and also inspiration with opportunities for reflection and research.

This applies to the humblest plot as well as to the botanic garden, and niuch. may be learnt from a careful study of the deve'lopment of the commonest weed. In the botanic garden where ' Every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food"' may be grown, as well as those of service to manikind, as the source of drugs, spices, beverages, fibres, timbers and such like, the educational possibilities and openings for re- search are far greater.

The search for plants yielding drugs and spices led to the foundation of botanic gardens; for in the monastic gardens of the Middle Ages -the forerunners of the botanic gardens at- tached to the universities-the cultivation of "'simples" wa-, onie of the chief concerils of the community. Interestirng survivals of these early physic gardens may still be seen in the Botanic Garden at Padua, anid the Apotliecaries' Garden at Chelsea-the Che:lsea Physic Garden.

The search f or spices has caused men to travel far and wide over the surface of the earth, has destroyed monopolies in the trade in eco- nomic products derived from plants (cloves, niut- megs, cinnamon, etc.), and has led to the estab- lishment of gardens for their cultivation and exploitation. I:n this way many of the tropical botanic gardenis have come into being, and through their efforts new markets have b_env opened for the drugs, spices and other economic products, native to one particular locality and under the control of one nation.

Botanic gardens, wherever they may be situ- ated, should be the Mecca to which we -turn for correct identifications of plants of economie value. They should also be a source of supply, both of economic and decorative plants, to other gardens or countries for the general good of mankind. Would that in these anxious days we could find and distribute that tree ' whose leaves were for the healing of the Nations! ''--Arthur W. Hill (Director, Royal Botanic Gar-dens), Journal of the Newv York Botanical Garden, August, 1941.

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