THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 13 
it may be found necessary to reroof the Agave house during 
the coming season, in addition to making repairs on other 
greenhouses, while the smoke issuing from the flues of all 
of these houses when the fires are replenished late in the 
afternoon, is so objectionable that one of the first large 
improvements contemplated must be the provision of a 
single central stoke hole, containing boilers sufficient to 
heat all of the plant houses and provided with adequate 
smoke-consuming devices. The walks of arboretum, fruti- 
cetum, and vegetable garden, which in bad weather are very 
unsatisfactory, must also be remade ina substantial manner, 
as this work can be afforded; and considerable additional 
fencing is required to place the grounds in a presentable 
condition, a neat barbed wire fence between the arboretum 
and fruticetum being particularly desirable. 
For the first time in my experience, the entire grounds 
have been kept free from weeds through the year, and in 
most respects a creditable appearance has been maintained. 
Owing to the severe drought during the entire summer and 
autumn, however, and the inadequacy of the eity water 
supply through the same period, the lawns suffered even 
more than in 1890, the blue grass being entirely destroyed 
and replaced by annual species over large areas. 
In addition to procuring numerous plants for the green- 
houses, among which should be mentioned numerous species 
brought from the West Indies by Mr. Hitchcock, a syste- 
matic effort has been made to introduce hardy native species 
into the grounds. For their accommodation a bog and 
artificial pond were made, and many small beds prepared in 
the southern part of the arboretum. Under the direct care 
of Mr. F. H. Horsford, an experienced grower of native 
plants, some 1,500 species were introduced, of which the 
greater number are established, though the severity of the 
season and the refractory character of the soil have rendered 
success much more difficult of attainment than has usually 
been the case in Mr. Horsford’s experience. The number 
of species already planted in this ‘* wild garden ’’ is about 
