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Curator of Plant Breeding—On December 7, the assistant 
curatorship of plant breeding was raised to a full curatorship, to 
begin with January 1, 1916. 
Curator of Elementary Instruction—On December 7, the title 
of Miss Shaw’s position was changed from assistant curator of 
public instruction to curator of elementary instruction, to take 
effect January 1, 1916. 
Instructor —The work of elementary instruction, including the 
children’s gardens and teachers’ training course, reached such 
proportions that additional assistance became necessary. The 
services of Miss Jean A. Cross were secured for Saturday after- 
noons, from April 17 to June 26, and on July t her appointment 
as instructor on our regular staff became effective. On December 
7 the title of her position was changed to assistant curator of 
elementary instruction, to take effect on January 1, 1916. The 
academic record and professional experience of Miss Cross is 
given in the appended report of the curator of public instruction. 
Laboratory Assistant—On September 1, Mr. Frank Stoll was 
appointed laboratory assistant in place of Mr. Guy S. Bisby, who 
resigned on May 3. 
Assistant Secretary —Early in the year it became evident that 
an assistant secretary of the Garden was absolutely necessary. 
As no municipal appropriation had been requested for this posi- 
tion in the budget for 1915 your Committee authorized the ex- 
penditure of private funds for this salary. 
Department of Public Instruction 
Cooperation with Schools —The appended report of the curator 
of public instruction records 60 talks and lectures given at public 
and private schools during the year, with a total of 16,000 audi- 
tors. Early in March posters were sent to all local schools, giving 
a list of 18 talks to be given at the Garden on various topics 
related to plant life, and closely correlated with the geography and 
nature study work of the schools, and a similar poster, listing 17 
talks, was distributed early in October. Largely in response to 
this offer, two hundred and sixteen classes with their teachers, 
comprising about 25,000 children, visited the Garden for regular 
or special lectures, or demonstrations ; this is an average of nearly 
