(14) 



The immediate surroundings of the propagating houses 

 have also been graded by means of laborers and teams kindly 

 placed under our direction for about a month, by Mr. Peter 

 Geeks, Superintendent of Parks of the Borough of the 



Bronx. 



The new contracts for road building and grading now 

 awarded or in preparation by the Department of Parks will 

 satisfactorily complete nearly all the work of that kind in the 

 vicinity of the main buildings contemplated by the General 



plan. 



Roads and Paths. 



Work on the contract awarded by the Commissioner of 

 Parks to John B. Devlin in November, 1899, alluded to in 

 my last annual report, was commenced in the spring and has 

 since been continuously prosecuted. It is now nearly com- 

 pleted but the final surfacing of part of the roadway built 

 under its provisions must be deferred until warmer weather. 

 The execution of this contract has given us Telford-McAdam 

 driveways from the Southern Boulevard near the Power house, 

 past the station plaza, previously built, and around the mu- 

 seum building to the lakes ; also from near the museum build- 

 ing to the Southern Boulevard near the herbaceous grounds, 

 a total length of about 4,000 feet. 



By means of another unexpended balance in an appropria- 

 tion for the improvement of existing roads, the Commissioner 

 of Parks awarded in September, a contract to the John J. 

 Hart Co. for the construction of driveways, connecting with 

 the Devlin contract, above alluded to, at the lakes, expend- 

 ing over the Bronx River across the " blue bridge, " at 

 the northern end of the Hemlock forest, thence eastwardly 

 across the Garden to the Bleecker Street entrance at the stable ; 

 also the construction of the driveway from near the stable 

 to the Lorillard Mansion, within the Garden reservation, and 

 thence through park land to the Pelham Parkway. The 

 western portion of this road, which is actually indicated as a 

 path on our general plan, has been built only 16 feet in width, 

 the ultimate design being to have it revert to a path after the 



