22 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN, 
work has been carried on by all of the higher office 
employees, each of whom has been permitted to devote a 
regular, if not large, part of his time to investigation. 
Some of the results of this study have been published 
already, and others, particularly a revision of the.varieties 
of peaches cultivated in the United States, by Mr. Irish, 
will be printed in the near future. For the completion of 
my own paper on Yuccas and related plants, published in 
the thirteenth Garden Report, two rapid field trips were 
undertaken in the early part of the year, covering parts of 
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the southwestern 
United States. 
Visiting botanists and scientific correspondents have been 
given every possible aid in their studies, and a number of 
candidates for advanced degrees in Washington University 
have been occupied in resident work at the Garden. The 
investigation of the diseases of plants and the decay of 
timber, by Dr. von Schrenk of the School of Botany and 
his assistants, has been continued for the United States 
Department of Agriculture through the year, and a portion 
of the old museum building has been adapted to office and 
laboratory use in the prosecution of this work. 
One garden pupil, Rudolph J. Mohr, who had completed 
the prescribed course of study and was recommended as 
practically proficient by the Head Gardener, was admitted 
to examination and granted the prescribed certificate in 
April, and the scholarship vacated by him was awarded to 
William Polst, of St. Louis, on nomination of the St. 
Louis Florists’ Club. One paying pupil, Miss Herta A. 
Toeppen, has taken the regular gardening course through 
the year, in addition to the six pupils holding scholarships. 
Three annual events, provided for in the will of the 
founder of the Garden, have taken place, as follows : — 
The annual flower sermon was preached in Christ Church 
Cathedral, St. Louis, on the morning of May 18, by the 
Right Reverend George H. Kinsolving, Bishop of Texas. 
