124 
fessor in the New York State College of Agriculture, at Cornell 
University. 
Prof. George M. Reed, of the University of Missouri, who was 
appointed in place of Prof. Rankin, entered upon his duties on 
June 15. Several serious tree diseases have already been found 
to have gained considerable headway in both the Garden and 
the Park. 
jan 
Gift of Specimens.—On Tuesday, February 1, Dr. E. B. South- 
wick, entomologist of Central Park for over thirty years, retired 
from office. Dr. Southwick has been an inveterate collector of 
specimens, botanical as well as entomological, and having known 
the director of the Garden for over ten years, he most generously 
offered to present to the Garden his entire botanical collections. 
They were transferred to Brooklyn during the last three days of 
January and are now stored, partly in our building and partly 
(through the courtesy of Director Fox), in the unfinished sec- 
tion of the Museum building. The collections include specimens 
showing the structure of wood, insect and fungous ravages of 
trees and shrubs, specimens of seeds having commercial use, a 
collection of drug plants, and a herbarium estimated to comprise 
about 30,000 specimens. This is the largest gift of scientific ma- 
terial that the Garden has received since the gift of the Annie 
Morrill Smith library and herbarium of mosses. 
Children’s Building—Plans and specifications for the Chil- 
dren’s Building, to be located on the children’s garden plot, were 
transmitted to the Park Commissioner by the architects on March 
7, and approved by the Board of Estimate, with authorization 
of $6.550 of corporate stock, on April 7. The bids were opened 
on June 3, and the contract was awarded to Finnan and Lee, the 
lowest bidders. The amount of the bid was $5,220. 
os 
Children’s Gardens—On Saturday, May 13, the children’s 
gardens were opened for the first time on their new site at the 
southern end of the grounds, along the Brighton Beach cut. The 
children took possession of the plot after marching from the 
laboratory building behind the city flag. One hundred and sixty- 
eight individual beds, each 8 & 10 feet, have been assigned for 
