48 
REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF PLANTS FOR 1911 
Dr. C. Stuart Gacer, Direcror, 
Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith my report as 
Curator of Plants from the date when my appointment took 
effect, March 16, 1911, to December 31, 1911. In view of the 
fact that this is the initial record of work done in the department, 
and owing to the desirability of putting in permanent form some 
historical data appertaining to the grounds and the contents 
thereof, it will be necessary to make this more extensive than 
subsequent reports may be. 
Preliminary Work 
— 
Most of my time between March 16 and April 1 was spent in 
consultation with you as to the plans and specifications for the 
collections to be installed during the season, in the preparation 
of orders for the various nurserymen, and in arranging for the 
labeling of the plants. After your decision as to how many 
Sections of the ten now contemplated were to be installed during 
Ig1t, work immediately began upon these. Before considering 
them in detail, it will be desirable briefly to outline some genera! 
work incident to the opening up of horticultural operations. 
The grounds were for the most part in a good state of up-keep 
and reflected great credit on the previous management of the 
Park Department authorities. After cleaning and raking up 
leaves, et cetera, from fence corners and walks, burning over the 
grass, and partially trimming the shrub planting along Flatbush 
and Washington Avenues, a nursery comprising about one acre 
was prepared near the southern end of the grounds. This was 
made necessary by the gift of Mr. Lowell M. Palmer of 438 
evergreens, which we could not place permanently, and also to 
accommodate other shrubs and trees acquired by gift or pur- 
chase. One section of the nursery is devoted to herbaceous 
plants, temporarily stored there until the collections for which 
they are intended shall be installed. 
A few of the trees on the grounds were pruned and other- 
wise cared for and 141 dead evergreens and 47 dead deciduous 
trees and shrubs were removed. The tool house, which was 
used by the previous custodians of the grounds, was trans- 
ferred from its location near the main entrance on Flatbush 
