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telephone wires for more than 4000 feet in the same trenches, 

 to these buildings, which were thus all connected with each 

 other. Naturally the system has proved very useful, and 

 has made the need of messengers for local service unneces- 

 sary. The wires are underground throughout their entire 

 extent ; their location has been accurately plotted. 



Further details of the construction work of all kinds will 

 be found in the report of the Superintendent of Buildings 

 and Grounds hereto appended. The work has been carried 

 on with frequent consultations with the Hon. August Moebus, 

 Commissioner of Parks, his Engineer-in-Chief, Hon. Martin 

 Schenck, his Chief Clerk, Mr. Gunther K. Ackerman, and 

 the Superintendent of Parks, Mr. Peter Geeks, and I desire 

 to express my appreciation of the interest and cooperation of 

 these gentlemen. 



The great amount and varied character of construction 

 under way has necessarily put large portions of the grounds 

 into an apparently chaotic condition, but the most difficult and 

 expensive work of building both garden and park will be ac- 

 complished by the end of the present year, if the additional 

 appropriation of #150,000.00, asked for by the Commissioner 

 of Parks in November is voted before Spring. Compara- 

 tively small construction appropriations only will subsequently 

 be required to complete the carrying out of the plans, and 

 most of the area can be rapidly brought into essentially per- 

 manent condition. 



Care of the Grounds. 



No damage worthy of remark has been done by visitors ; 

 the notices forbidding the picking of flowers or breaking of 

 branches from plants either wild or cultivated have been re- 

 spected and no arrests for depredations of any kind have 

 been made. Some of the employees have been on guard 

 every Sunday and holiday, largely as a precaution against 

 the spread of fires, particular attention having been given to 

 the hemlock forest. The drought of 1900 was destructive 

 to trees all over the northeastern United States, and the 

 woods in the Garden shared in its effects, it having been 



