37 



\ 



Cooperation with Schools 



■ 



The map facing page 42 of this report indicates the geograph- 

 ical extent to which the Garden has served the needs of schools 

 in Brooklyn, Queens, and Lower Manhattan. We are now meet- 



4 



ing demands nearly to the limit of our capacity. Statistics con- 

 cerning this work may be found on pages 24 and 25, and in the 

 appended reports of the department of public instruction and the 

 curator of elementary instruction. 



Cooperation with the Board of Health 



* 



During the summer, in response to a request from the New 

 York City Board of HeaUh, the Garden supplied specially pre- 

 pared mounted specimens of poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron), 

 with five-fingered ivy {Parthenocissus qninqucfolia) mounted on 

 the same sheet for comparison; jimson weed or thorn apple 

 {Datura Stramonium) ; great ragweed (Ambrosia frifida), and 

 small ragweed (A. artcmisifolia). These specimens were for use 

 at various stations of the Board in its campaign of popular educa- 

 tion concerning poisonous plants and tho.se causing hay-fever. 

 Among the latter plants, the ragweeds are the most notorious of- 

 fenders, and are still found growing wild, in vacant lots and else- 

 where, in every section of the city. Thanks to the Board of 

 Health, measures are being taken to secure the extermination of 

 these plants from within the city limits. 



Plantations and Grounds 



Work on the grounds suffered in 1920 more than any year 

 since the Garden was established. This was because the small 

 municipal appropriation ($734) available to meet the cost of 

 labor threw a burden on private funds greater than could be met, 

 except in part. Taking public and private funds together, only 

 2,451 men-days were available. The number of men-days for 

 1 91 9 were 4,032. Spring work did not begin until April 5 — the 

 latest date in the history of the Garden, the date in 1919 being 

 March 10. Fall work closed November 5, though the open sea- 

 son w.ould have permitted the work to continue until as late as 

 December i. Very little new work could be accomplished, al- 



