( 4 io) 



the thistle family. Considerable rearrangement of the spe- 

 cies in other beds has been made. The small lake at the 

 southern end of this tract, excavation for which was com- 

 menced during the fall of 1901, was completed in the spring, 

 and its surroundings restored to lawn, thus adding a valuable 

 landscape feature to this part of the grounds. The outlet of 

 the watercourse, of which this lake forms a part, has been 

 through a rough stone drain running south from a point on 

 our southern boundary, several hundred feet through land 

 of Bronx Park toward the Bronx River, the water there being 

 discharged into a natural valley, forming a brook ; this drain 

 has always given some trouble, not being of sufficient ca- 

 pacity to take the water off rapidly enough, and it also, at 

 times, became partially choked by leaves ; the amount of 

 water flowing into the valley of the herbaceous grounds dur- 

 ing heavy storms has been increased by the drainage from 

 new roads and paths. The trouble culminated during the 

 early part of this winter by the backing up of the water into 

 the herbaceous garden, making it necessary to open this old 

 drain for several hundred feet, and replace it by a large 

 earthenware pipe, laid to a proper grade ; this work is now 

 in progress and will no doubt relieve the condition. 



The bringing of species hitherto unrepresented in the her- 

 baceous grounds from the nurseries, and from other sources, 

 has been continued, and the number of species grown in 

 these plantations during the year is some 3,000 ; about the 

 same as last year, some having failed to survive the winter, 

 or died from other causes. 



2. Fruticctum. Contingent upon road- and path-building 

 operations, commenced during the year on the plain north of 

 the Museum Building, the rearrangement of the shrub planta- 

 tions planned for last spring was deferred until the necessary 

 grading operations should be more nearly completed. This 

 work was far enough advanced in the southeastern part of 

 the fruticetum this autumn to enable us to replant it in ap- 

 proximately permanent form, and this work may go forward 

 to advantage in the spring of 1903. The number of species 



