/ / / BOTANY IN THE NETHERLANDS F. A. F. C. WENT f (1863 — 1935) Late President of the Organizing Committee BOTANY IN THENETHERLAND S EDITED FOR THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF THE SIXTH INTERNATIONAL BOTANICAL CONGRESS BY M. J. SIRKS Hon. First Secretary *2££=£g£>. LEIDEN E. J. BRILL 1935 CONTENTS PREFACE (F. A. F. C. Went) VIII HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION (M. J. Sirks).... 1 INSTITUTIONS OF UNIVERSITIES AND UNIVERSITY COLLEGES 9 THE GOVERNMENT UNIVERSITY AT LEYDEN . 9 The Botanical Laboratory (L. G. M. Baas Becking) . 9 The National Herbarium (H. J. Lam) 10 THE GOVERNMENT UNIVERSITY AT GRONINGEN 13 The Botanical Laboratory (W. H. Arisz) 13 The Section for Genetics (T. Tammes) 16 The Section for Plant Taxonomy (B. H. Danser) . 17 THE GOVERNMENT UNIVERSITY AT UTRECHT . 17 The Botanical Laboratory (V. }. Koningsberger) . 17 The Botanical Museum and Herbarium (A. A. Pulle) 20 THE UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM 25 The Botanical Laboratory (Th. J. Stomps) .... 25 The Laboratory for Plant Physiology (Th. Weevers) . 27 THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY AT DELFT 29 The Laboratory for Technical Botany and the Botanical Gardens for Technical Plants (G. v. Iterson) ... 29 The Laboratory for Microbiology (A. J. Kluyver) . 31 THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AT WAGENINGEN 32 The Botanical Laboratory (E. Reinders) 32 The Laboratory for Plant Taxonomy and the Arboretum (J. Jeswiet) 33 The Laboratory for Plantphysiological Research (A. H. Blaauw) 35 The Laboratory for Microbiology (K. Wieringa) . 37 The Laboratory for Genetics (J. A. Honing) ... 40 The Laboratory for Mycology and Potato-Research (H. M. Quanjer) 41 TheLaborator yfo r Horticultural Research(A.M . Sprenger) 43 The Institute for Plantbreeding (C. Broekema) ... 47 The Laboratory for Agricultural Crops (H.Maye rGmelin ) 50 VI CONTENTS The Section for Forestry (A. te Wechel) .... 51 The Laboratory for Bulb-Researches at Lisse (E. van Slogteren) .... 52 AUTONOMOUS OFFICIAL AND SEMI-OFFICIAL IN­ STITUTIONS 5 5 The Netherlands Heath Society, Arnhem (J. P. van Lonkhuyzen) 55 The Phytopathological Laboratory „Willie Commelin Scholten", Baarn (Joha. Westerdijk) 56 The Central Bureau for Fungus Cultures, Baarn (Joha. Westerdijk) 58 The Institute for Sugarbeet Culture, Bergen op Zoom, (P. J. H. van Ginneken) 61 The Netherlands Government Rubber Institute, Delft (A. van Rossem) . , 61 The Laboratory of the Government Fibre Institute, Delft 62 The Government Experiment Station for Arable and Grassland, Groningen (O. de Vries) 64 The Geological Bureau for the Dutch Mining district, Heerlen (W. J. Jongmans) 67 The Government Forest Service, Utrecht (E. D. van Dissel) 71 The Government Phytopathological Service, Wageningen (N. van Poeteren) 74 The Government Seed Testing Station, Wageningen (W. J. Franck) 77 The Agricultural Experiment Fields Service, Wageningen (J. D. Koeslag) 78 The Netherlands General Inspection Service, Wage­ ningen (J. Siebenga) 79 The Biological Station, Wijster, Drenthe (W. Beyerinck) 80 SOCIETIES 82 The Netherlands Botanical Society (M. J. Sirks) . 82 The Institute for the Investigation of the Vegetation in the Netherlands (J. G. Sloff) 85 The Netherlands Mycological Society (A. J. P. Oort) 87 The Netherlands Phytopathological Society (W. Roepke) 89 The Netherlands Phenological Society (J. D. Vis). 90 The Societies for Nature Protection (J. P. Thijsse) . 91 The Netherlands Society for the Study of Natural His­ tory (Joh. v. Burkom) 97 The Netherlands Society for Agricultural Science (T. A. C. Schoevers) 100 CONTENTS VII The Royal Netherlands Horticultural and Botanic So­ ciety (G. F. van Tets) 101 The Netherlands Society for Gardens for Medicinal Herbs (W. C. de Graaff) 102 THE OVERSEAS TERRITORIES 105 EAST INDIES 105 The Botanical Garden at Buitenzorg (W. M. Docters v. Leeuwen) 105 The General Agricultural Experiment Station, Buiten­ zorg, Java (J. G. B. Beumée) 109 The Deli Experiment Station, Medan, Sumatra (S.C . J. Jochems) 113 The Experiment Station for Vorstenlanden Tobacco, Klaten, Java (C. Coolhaas) 116 The Experiment Station of the Society of Rubber Growers on the East Coast of Sumatra, Medan, Su­ matra (A. d'Angremond) 120 The Agricultural Department of the Java Sugar Experi­ ment Station, Pasoeroean, Java (V. J. Koningsberger) 121 The Experiment Station at Besoeki, Djember, Java (J. Schweizer) 124 The Experiment Station West-Java, Buitenzorg, Java (Th. G. E. Hoedt) 127 The Experiment Station Middle and EastJava , Malang, Java (J. Gandrup) 131 The Forest Research Institute, Buitenzorg, Java (H. E. Wolff von Wülfing) 132 WEST INDIES 134 Surinam (G. Stahel) 134 Antilles (A. A. Pulle) 138 PREFACE The Dutch Organizing Committee for the Sixth International Botanical Congress is herewith offering to the foreign members a sketch of the history and the present position of botanical science in the Netherlands and their Oversea Territories. It hopes that this summary will be of some use, more especially to those who wish to visit any of the Institutions, described hereafter. The description of every laboratory or institution is made by its director, those of the societies by the president or the secretary, who are responsible for the contents of these paragraphs. The draiving of Dodoens' portrait was made by the skilled hand of Professor Dr W. A. Goddijn. The whole editing and the historical introduction is due to Dr M. J. Sirks, who certainly is to be thanked for the trouble taken also in this respect. F. A. F. C. WENT. July 1st., 1935. HUGO DE VRIES f (1848— 1935 ) I. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION Botany in the Netherlands goes back to the middle of the sixteenth century, the flourishing age of the Herbals, the period in which Botany as an offspring of the dominant medical science passed through its first real struggle for an independent existence. The Low Countries took so much interest in the plant world, that the printer Isingrin at Basle (Switzerland), who in 1542 printed the Latin edition of FUCHS' De Historia Stirpium Comentarii, published in the following year a translation in the language of the Netherlands "Den nieuwen Herbarius dat is d' boeck van den Cruyden" (1543), a splendidly illustrated folio-volume 1). At that time a young Dutch medical man, REMBERTUS DODOENS or DODONAEUS (1517—1585) wandered through Europe, visiting a number of Universities in Germany, France and Italy and went to Basle, where he came under the stimu­ lating influence of FUCHS' work. DODOENS' interests were attracted to Botany and its charms. He returned to Mechelen where he was born in 1517, the son of aFrisian , Dodo Joenckema, who had come to reside there, and decided to prepare another work similar in nature, but better adapted to the needs of his fellow countrymen than the translation of FUCHS could be. DODOENS' work took a number of years before he could entrust his careful publisher Jan van der Loe at Antwerp with the printing: after certain partial publications, the complete herbal „Cruydeboeck" was published in 1554. Hence this year may be considered to have marked the Birth of Botany in the Netherlands. DODOENS' fame soon spread among scientists; the famous University of Leuven offered him a professorship, which honour he declined, but in later years the recently-founded University of Leyden secured his services and in 1582 he was appointed professor ordinarius in the faculty of medical scien­ ces. Though the lack of a botanical garden prevented DODOENS from any activity as „professor of botany" in the real sense, 1) A number of the old books mentioned here, will be shown at the exhibition in the Building of the Zoological Garden „Artis". Botany 1 2 Historical Introduction he may be considered to have been the first botanist as a University professor in the Netherlands. DODOENS' appoint­ ment demonstrated that Botany had come of age in our country. Leyden University enjoyed the presence of DODOENS among its professors for a few years only; his death in 1585 deprived botanical science of one of its most famous scholars. Botany, however, had been admitted as a University science; two years later (1587) GERARDUS BONTIUS (1536—1599) was appointed professor of botany, and it was his privilege to enter on his duties a few months after the Board of Trustees of the Univer­ sity had decided to found a botanical garden (April 13th. 1587). The Leyden Hortus Botanicus was the fifth among the great Botanical Gardens of the world to come into existence. The broad view taken by the Leyden Trustees soon brought another botanist of great renown to this University: in 1592 CAROLUS CLUSIUS (1526—1609) accepted their call. CLUSIUS immedia­ tely completed the project for the Botanical Garden, and we owe to his genius and activity the laying out of such a garden in a manner, far beyond the capacity of the general run of botanists of that period. CLUSIUS' garden not only contained medical plants; he developed it into a general botanical garden, where he made a number of interesting sowing experiments, inter alia with tulips. The first real centre of botanical studies in the Netherlands had found its home. In grateful memory of him a botanical garden according to CLUSIUS' plans has been recently reestablished as a section of the present University Garden at Leyden. The close relations between Holland and the Eastern Indies awakened the interest of scientific men in the tropical flora of those regions. JACOBUS BONTIUS (1592—1631), the younger son of the Leyden botanist, became a medical doctor for the East Indian Company. In this capacity he visited part of the East Indian Archipelago where he made numerous