35 
local community is the maintenance of its grounds, open free 
every day in the year. For some, the grounds serve chiefly as a 
park, and the Garden is becoming increasingly a favorite rendez- 
vous for many who find here an escape from the noise, and 
motion, and odor, and danger of automobiles—which have, more 
than any other one feature, served to detract from the charm of 
city parks. Motor cars are not admitted to the Botanic Garden. 
Appreciation of Labels.—But people do not visit our grounds 
merely for its features as a park. Our labelled collections are 
more and more serving the educational purpose for which they 
were intended. One can now hardly ever walk through the 
grounds without seeing visitors reading labels, and frequently 
copying them. Inquiries by mail, by telephone, and in person, 
based upon the reading of these labels, are becoming increasingly 
frequent. This applies to the Conservatory Collections as well 
as to the Plantations. 
Aesthetic Values——‘‘The most beautiful spot in Greater New 
York.’ Thus one of the metropolitan dailies referred to the 
Garden during the past year. To live up to this reputation is 
(and always has been) a prime motive in the development of 
the grounds. The plantations are frequented by artists painting 
both flowers and views; amateur photographers become more 
frequent each year; classes in architecture come to study our 
building. 
In connection with each group of plant families an endeavor is 
made not only to exhibit plants as botanical specimens, but also 
to show how any of the plants in a given group may be used in 
decorative planting. ‘This has added much to the beauty of the 
plantations as well as to the effectiveness of the exhibits. 
Our naturalizing of thousands of bulbs in the lawns was the 
first public demonstration of this kind of planting on a large 
scale in Greater New York—and one of the first in a public 
park in the Eastern United States. 
Our special features, such as the Rock Garden, Iris Garden, 
Japanese Garden, and Water Gardens, increase yearly in effective- 
ness and popularity. 
Bureau of Information.—One of the objects of a botanic garden 
(as of any educational institution) is to create or stimulate a 
desire to know, but there is a special satisfaction in being able 
