MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 7 
that the various structures at the Garden are in better shape 
than ever before. In addition to repainting the pergola 
and many of the greenhouses, and extensive repairs in the 
museum and old residence, the most important single item 
was the remodeling of the lodge house located at the Cleve- 
land Avenue gate. Besides providing a cellar and a hot 
water heating system, putting in electric lights, bathroom, 
etc., numerous changes in the interior arrangement were 
made, and the entire house redecorated and made livable. 
pe se is now occupied by the General Manager of the 
arden. : 
Brief reference was made in my last annual report to the 
fact that the Garden was becoming more and more a source 
of information, not only to scientists and those interested 
in the growing of plants, but also to business concerns. The 
Garden has always been an institution to which people 
turned for what might be called botanical and horticultural 
information, but the European war has had such a pro- 
_ found effect upon manufacturing and other industries in 
this country that the necessity for substituting new materials 
and methods has created an unprecedented demand for tech- 
nical information not readily accessible to the business man. 
As a consequence the Garden has, during the past year, 
devoted much time and attention to furnishing information 
of this character. In addition to an increasing demand for 
the identification of plants, seeds, and woods— many of 
which, because of their medicinal or other value, are of great 
importance commercially — which the extensive herbarium 
and library of the Garden make possible, there have been 
numerous requests concerning the various aspects of mush- 
room growing, both by commercial concerns and private indi- 
viduals, and a demand for information respecting means of 
preventing the growth of fungi on commercial products sub- 
ject to mold. The impossibility of obtaining the usual dis- 
infectants, or their prohibitive price, has made it necessary 
for many concerns to turn to the scientific staff at the Garden 
for help. 
An article in the BuLuLertn, calling attention to a wood 
one-half the weight of cork, resulted in such a demand from 
manufacturers of artificial limbs, talking machines, piston 
rings, pith helmets, refrigerators, and from others using cork 
and insulating material, that the Garden took up the matter 
with several dealers in tropical lumber, and as a consequence 
the wood is now on the American market and is available 
for the various uses to which it is adapted. Special instruc- 
tions have been furnished to parks, cemeteries, and private in-_ 
dividuals for means of eradicating the unsightly green scums 
