Missouri Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 
Vol. VIII St. Louis, Mo., January, 1920 No. 1 
THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 
DIRECTOR 
Gentlemen: 
I have the honor to submit herewith the thirty-first annual 
report of the Director. 
For an institution like the Garden, with a relatively sta- 
tionary income but with less money than usual available for 
Garden purposes during the past year, it is becoming increas- 
ingly difficult to maintain the various activities as they should 
be. During the war, because of the fuel restrictions, labor 
shortage, and scarcity of materials, there was a legitimate 
excuse and explanation for curtailing work, but the year 1919 
has for various reasons been the most difficult from an admin- 
istrative standpoint that the Garden has ever experienced. 
Many details which have very properly been neglected for the 
past three or four years had to be attended to, and the de- 
mands of the laboratories, library, and herbarium, as well 
as the general garden, which previously could be ignored, 
necessitated most careful consideration. 
While the war was on it was, of course, impossible to keep 
up the additions to the library and herbarium as in normal 
times, and the number of graduate students naturally fell off 
considerably. The School for Gardening was closed and the 
indoor floral displays practically abandoned. These restric- 
tions effected actual savings which helped to offset the in- 
ereased cost of labor and such materials as could be obtained. 
With the war over, the public naturally expected the Garden 
to immediately come back to its former state of efficiency 
without perhaps realizing that in order to accomplish this a 
great deal more money would have to be available than had 
ever been needed before. Similar institutions in this country 
which are supported entirely or partially by private contri- 
butions or from money received from municipal or state 
funds, have been able to demonstrate without difficulty the 
necessity for receiving additional money for maintenance, and 
in most cases have secured enough to at least make it porsible 
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