(476) 



About i, 600 packets of seed have been sown. Of these 



seeds many have germinated, and from this source have been 



obtained about 4,000 plants. Many of these have already 



been incorporated with the collections, while others are still 



too small. 



Public Conservatories. 



It is upon the collections here installed that the largest 

 amount of work has been done, not only in securing addi- 

 tional material, but also in naming, classifying and arranging. 

 Upon the completion of the new part of this range early in 

 the year, a thorough rearrangement of this collection was 

 entailed, in order that the family groups might be maintained 

 and their relationship one to the other preserved in so far as 

 possible. The following general plan, which has been found 

 quite satisfactory from a systematic standpoint, was adopted : 

 to the central or palm house were allotted the larger palms 

 and cycads, the larger bamboos, and the cyclanthus family; 

 house no. 2 is devoted to the aroids, bromeliads and pitcher- 

 plants ; no. 3 to the tropical members of the amaryllis, spider- 

 wort, tacca, maranta, and a part of the lily and iris families ; 

 no. 4 to a miscellaneous tropical collection, including the 

 bananas, various species of Pandanus, and the canna family, 

 and of other families many specimens which were too large 

 to be placed in their proper groups in the smaller houses ; 

 nos. 5 and 6 to the succulents; nos. 7 and 8 to the poly- 

 petalous tropical plants ; no. 9, the tank house, to aquatics, 

 sedges, and the smaller grasses ; nos. 10 and 11 to the ferns, 

 the latter to the tree ferns; nos. 12 and 13 to the temperate 

 collections ; no. 14 to the gamopetalous tropical plants ; and 

 no. 15 mainly to the tropical orchids, the middle portion of 

 the center bench also receiving the smaller palms and cycads. 



Many additions have been made, by exchange with Euro- 

 pean institutions and with others in this country, by gifts from 

 members of the Garden and other friends which have been 

 recorded in the Journal from time to time, by exploration, 

 and from seeds procured from various sources. The aspect of 

 the collection is constantly changing, owing to the necessity 



