(SO 



REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF THE PLANTA- 

 TIONS. 

 To the Director-in-Chief. 



Dea?' Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith my report 

 as Curator of the Plantations for the year just closed : 



During the period covered by this report the collections 

 under my control have made much progress, both in growth 

 and in their better display and arrangement. In the matter of 

 growth, many additions have been made, something over 6,000 

 specimens having been received. This increase is especially 

 marked in the collections of tropical and other tender plants 

 which are many times larger than formerly. The frutice- 

 tum also claims a prominent place in the line of improvement, 

 many species new to this tract having been installed, derived 

 from our own nurseries or from outside sources. This, to- 

 gether with the other plantations, will be treated more in de- 

 tail under the sections of this report. 



A large number of plants have also been obtained from 

 seeds secured from various sources. About 2,000 packets 

 have come in during the course of the year, mainly by gift 

 or in exchange. Many of these were of hardy plants for the 

 outdoor plantations and were sown in the nursery ; a fair 

 proportion germinated and developed into plants which have 

 been transplanted, mainly to the herbaceous grounds. Some 

 of the seeds intended for the conservatory collections have 

 also been sown, many of them have germinated, and inter- 

 esting results are expected from a number of plants thus de- 

 rived. The remainder of the conservatory seeds are await- 

 ing the completion of the range of propagating houses ; at 

 such time these will be sown, and as many of them are of 

 plants unusual in cultivation it is hoped that many valuable 

 additions will be derived from this source. 



The installation of show labels has been prosecuted to the 

 fullest extent made possible under the circumstances, over 

 2,000 have been manufactured and placed in position. Af- 

 ter considerable experimenting, a system of lettering with 



