é 
305 
CoMPARATIVE STATISTICAL DATA FOR I916 AND 1917 
Attendance 1916 1917 Increase 
Regular ee eee hella eh eens 14,070 26,794 90 + % 
VARIUIN IG LASSeS ee eee eee a 8,504 12,02 41-+ % 
Lectures 
To ae Peart te es IN, OR Rey 6,448 10,642 60 + % 
Oa Ci ltsh aparece, Meee aang ics tee 744 1,095 168 % 
eae Se ea ee neta el ete 18,190 29,328 61-+ % 
Entrance gates (estimated in es Bee ee 362,946 509,285 40 + % 
Registration in regular Garden classes...... 2,614 4,083 56 ~% 
The point here emphasized is that this large increase in at- 
tendance at lectures and classes, averaging nearly 74 per cent., 
has. not been accompanied by any increase in staff, nor is it due 
to any increased publicity or other attempts to secure larger 
numbers, for there have been none. With reasonable allowance 
for normal annual growth, it is to be attributed almost wholly to 
the fact that we can now accommodate more people. That we 
are now able to present figures of such magnitude for total yearly 
attendance is convincing evidence that the Botanic Garden 1s 
supplying a real need in the community, and has thereby justified 
its establishment. 
The Garden and the War 
Plans for the year’s work, as first projected, were profoundly 
modified by the entrance of the United States into the war, on 
April 6. The development, for botanic garden purposes, of four 
large tracts, was abandoned, and the areas were devoted to “ win- 
the-war” gardens. These areas include that in front of the 
laboratory building and plant houses, a tract of about one acre on 
the south addition (west of the brook), the area surrounding the 
experimental garden (south of the plant houses), and a portion 
of the land between the Museum building and Mt. Prospect 
reservoir. 
Model Small Vegetable Garden—On April 19, the head 
gardener gave a public demonstration of the planting of a small 
vegetable garden, 20 ft. & 40 ft., and this garden was carried 
through the season, as a model garden of its kind. In this con- 
nection a special Leaflet, on “ The Small Vegetable Garden,” was 
