14 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
equal to the entire phenogamic flora of a State, and rather 
greater than that of the British Islands. While several 
years must pass before the best results can be hoped for, 
and some of the species may require frequent renewal, this 
part of the Garden is a most essential one, and during the 
past year the plants in it have proved attractive to many 
visitors, and have been particularly interesting and instruc- 
tive to pharmacists who have visited the grounds, inasmuch 
as the collection includes a large number of officinal plants. 
Several hundred tree labels have been placed in the course 
of the year, some consisting of metallic plates coated with 
‘granite ware’’ enamel, in which the names were fired in 
a contrasting color, while others are of a’’ white bronze ”’ 
alloy now much used in monument work, and bear the 
names in raised letters. As rapidly as possible, all of the 
trees are being named in this manner. Shrubs are labeled 
by means of plates of celluloid, bearing the names in indeli- 
ble ink, and affixed by copper wire; and the same kind of 
labels, wired to long iron rods capable of being thrust far 
enough into the ground to escape displacement by frost, 
is being employed for herbaceous plants in the bog and 
other parts of the wild garden. 
The herbarium has been augmented by the purchase of 
the more important current collections of American plants 
offered for sale during the year, as well as by the purchase 
of a very full set of the grasses in the herbarium of the late 
Dr. George Thurber, and the acquisition of many desirable 
specimens through exchange and the donations of corre- 
spondents, te whom the thanks of the institution are 
tendered. As a result of the collecting cruise of Mr. 
Hitchcock in the West Indies, referred to in my last report, 
some 2,000 valuable specimens, representing very fully the 
flora of the islands he visited, have been added to the 
herbarium, which, together with that part of the library 
referring to the botany of the same region, is believed by 
Mr. Hitchcock to be now quite as complete as any in the 
country. 
