Bundy Denies Reports Of Cuban Interference In Botanical Gardens

Cuban authorities have not interfered with the operations of the Harvard botanical gardens on the island, Dean Bundy said yesterday.

The land, long-leased by Harvard from the Soledad Sugar Mill, was automatically nationalized earlier this year when the Cuban government took over the sugar property.

Subsequently formal title to the Gardens was transferred from the more radical Institute of Agrarian Reform to the middle-of-the-road Ministry of Agriculture.

Although the number of visitors using the station's facilities has dropped slightly since the Castro government came to power, Duncan Clement, director of the Atkins Garden and Research Laboratory, saw little significance in the decline, which he claimed might be the result of many factors.

Duncan described his presence in Cambridge as a matter of research convenience and unrelated to the situation in Cuba. He expects to return to Cuba shortly with several other botanists.

The station includes 140 acres of what Duncan called one of the major collections of tropical plants in the world and facilities for experimental work. The other major purpose of the station is to instruct the graduate students who periodically study there.