SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 13 
which 74 are grasses and 178 Compositae, and 39 of hardy 
ferns, etc. 
The Victoria pond constructed in 189% was improved in 
the early spring by a rearrangement of the hot water 
apparatus by which it is heated, and through the summer 
and early fall scarcely a week passed in which one or more 
flowers of the Victoria regia did not open, while the large 
leaves were a source of even greater wonder to visitors. 
On several occasions the Garden was kept open in the 
evening for the benefit of persons wishing to see the flowers 
expand, which happens in the twilight, and the vicinity of 
the pond was then lighted with such appliances as were at 
hand; but the cultivation of two plants of the same species 
in Tower Grove Park, near the Tower Grove Avenue 
entrance, and consequently very near the Garden, made it 
unnecessary to defer the time of closing the latter as a rule, 
since the Park is open during the evening. In addition to 
the Victoria and the related large leaved but small flowered 
Gorgon Plant (Huryale ferox), a considerable number of 
pond lilies were grown attractively in the granitoid ponds 
near the greenhouses and in the small pond made some 
years since in the northwestern part of the arboretum. At 
present, 35 named species or varieties of aquatic and tender 
marsh phanerogams are growing at the Garden. 
Owing largely to changes which have been made gradu- 
ally during the last year or two, by which a more intelli- 
gent class of labor is being acquired, the gardening oper- 
ations have this year been more satisfactory than before, 
a fact even more noticeable in the greenhouses than outside. 
Indeed, at no time since I assumed the direction of the Gar- 
den have the houses been so attractive as they are this 
winter. This has encouraged me to add to the collection 
of greenhouse plants more extensively than heretofore, and 
among other things a small but carefully selected collection 
of orchids has been placed in the house built in 1894, so 
* Sixth Report, 13. 
a eee od 
