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REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE 

 LABORATORIES. 



Dr. N. L. Britton, Director-in-Chief. 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report for 

 the year ending January i, 1903. 



The appropriation for the laboratories has been expended 

 in purchasing apparatus and in securing the material and 

 supplies necessary for the various investigations carried on in 

 the several departments of the Garden. The facilities de- 

 voted to the chemical physiology of plants have been notably 

 increased, and the work in this subject has been placed under 

 the guidance of Dr. W. J. Gies, who has been appointed 

 Consulting Chemist. 



Dr. Alexander P. Anderson, assistant in botany, Colum- 

 bia University, completed his work upon the chemical and 

 physical properties of starch early in the year as a result of 

 which he discovered and perfected a method for the treat- 

 ment of the starchy portions of plants which yields new 

 products of great economic value as foods, and for use in the 

 arts. 



The collection illustrating the history of the microscope has 

 been increased by the donation of six additional instruments 

 with accessories by Mr. C. F. Cox of the Board of Managers, 

 to whose kindness the Garden owes the entire collection. 



The meteorological observations have been continued, and 

 the suite of instruments has been removed to a position near 

 the nursery, which offers conditions slightly different from 

 those of the herbaceous grounds in which the observations 

 were made until May 1, 1902. The new Hallock thermo- 

 graph has been installed to record the temperature of the soil 

 at a depth of 30 cm. (1 foot), and having been operated suc- 

 cessfully for a period of eight months, specifications for an 

 improved form of this instrument have been placed in the 

 hands of an instrument-maker who will be able to furnish the 

 Garden and other institutions with a standard form of this 



