50 
REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF PLANTS AND 
PLANTATIONS FOR 1923 
Dr. C. STUART GAGER, DIRECTOR. 
Sir: I take pleasure in submitting my report for the thirteenth 
year of my connection with the Botanic Garden, ending December 
Sy, IKON). . 
As in previous years the gardening force has been under the 
direct supervision of Mr. Free, and the laboring force under Mr. 
Herman Kolsh. Partly from lack of funds, and partly because so 
much of our once rather wild and untamed grounds are now under 
cultivation of some sort, there has been less new construction and 
planting than in any recent year. 
here remains only the area between the Museum and the 
Reservoir to be put down to permanent lawn, and planted accord- 
ing to already accepted plans. The last of the grading of this was 
completed during the year, some of it covered with top-soil, and 
some of the area is still in process of soil improvement. During 
1924 the area should all be put down to permanent lawn. 
As construction naturally gives way to maintenance we should 
as soon as possible so arrange our outdoor forces that certain sec- 
tions of the grounds are put in charge of one or two men, garden- 
ers or laborers as the situation may demand. The obviously good 
results of such procedure in the Japanese Garden point the way 
toward what is evidently the best method of securing both ade- 
quate care and policing of the rest of our grounds. Men assigned 
to such tracts take a greater interest and pride in them than if 
they are daily sent to different parts of the grounds, as we have 
been forced to do by construction demands up to now. 
The gardening force increased the beds devoted to perennial 
asters, which proved such a success last year. A large and attrac- 
tive display of Cannas was made among the monocotyledonous 
amilies, involving a rearrangement of these beds. Altogether 
there were 480 plants in 32 varieties, given by the Conard and 
Jones Company of West Grove, Pa. On the south embankment 
of the museum site over 1,000 small plants of Crataegus were set 
out as a temporary exhibit, and thousands of seeds of Crataegus 
were planted at the same place in the autumn. In the fall about 
