16 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
In return for seeds and plants, and for its publications, 
a considerable number of consignments of plants are each 
year presented to the Garden,* and extensive but conser- 
vative purchases are annually made. During 1898, 274 
such consignments were received, of which 225, including 
4,597 plants or packets of seeds and valued at $1,317.68, 
were presented. The expenditure for plants and seeds for 
the year was $1,366.29. By way of exchange, 132 pack- 
ets of seeds and 821 plants, appraised at $111.80, were 
sent out; and 1,340 plants were presented to schools and 
charities. 
Until midsummer of the present year, no definite count 
of visitors to the Garden was kept, the rough estimate 
of the gate-keeper and Head Gardener showing that 
there seemed to be a gradual increase in the number of 
persons who made use of the Garden in each successive 
year. Beginning with the middle of July of 1898, how- 
ever, the gate-keeper has kept an accurate record of the 
visitors passing the gate, and his report shows 32,867 per- 
sons for week days during the period covered by the count. 
The smallest number, on the 21st of November, was 6. 
The largest number on any week day was 1,640, on October 
6, which was the special holiday of the week of the St. Louis 
Fair. In June, on the Sunday afternoon when, in accord- 
ance with the provision of Mr. Shaw’s will, the Garden 
was open to the public, 12,908 persons were counted, and on 
the first Sunday afternoon in September, when the Garden 
was likewise open to the public, under the same provision, 
5,465 persons were counted. Estimating the number of 
visitors as approximately the same during the two halves 
of the year, it appears that the total number for 1898 may 
have been 89,102. 
For reasons repeatedly stated in earlier reports,f the 
* Rept. 4312. 6:12. 6314. 7:14, 16. 8:17. 9312. 
t Rept. 1:31, 35,37, 50,93. 2:25. 8:16. 8:19, 21. 9:16. 
