\ 



29 



other economic plants, and the published results include eight 

 papers appearing in American and European journals. During 

 1 91 8, Dr. White spent several months studying various problems 

 connected with the growth and utilization of the castor oil bean, 

 in cooperation with the National Research Council. 



Other investigations include a study of the effect of smoke and 

 fumes on the street trees, lawns, gardens, and other vegetation of 

 one of the boroughs of Greater New York, by the director; 

 studies, still in progress, in the evolution of the Boston fern 



■phrolep 



* 



R. C. Benedict, resident investigator; a 



survey of the diseases of the trees in the Garden and in Prospect 

 Park, adjacent thereto, by Dr. George M. Reed, now curator of 

 plant pathology, but at that time resident investigator; and 

 numerous other minor studies by members of staff and registered 

 students. 



In closing this brief resume of the scientific output of a small 

 body of workers, attention should be called to the fact that it has 

 not been merely a matter of academic interest for a few imprac- 

 tical specialists, removed in the imaginary recesses of their lab- 

 oratories and hbrary from the activities and needs of everyday 

 life. As the above account shows, most of the problems that have 

 engaged the members of the Garden stafif have been of large eco- 

 nomic importance, directly affecting public health and comfort, 

 the cost and pleasure of living, the physical and intellectual well- 

 being of the people. -Such, by and large, is the significance of 

 most modern scientific research. 



1 



Cooperation zvith the Federal Government, — Since November, 



\ 



191 7, the Garden has extended the facilties of its laboratories and 

 herbarium to further the investigations in progress here under 

 the joint auspices of the Bureau of Alarkets and the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. This 

 work is under the immediate supervision of Mr. F. C. Meier, of 

 the Bureau of Markets, and Dr. Charles Drechsler, of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, was in residence at the Garden from 



J 



I to December 31, 1920, as special investigator for the De- 



partment. • 



As a recent writer has tersely expressed it, every time we buy 

 four potatoes we pay for a fifth that we do not get because it has 



> 



