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Local Flora Section 
Dr. Gager, in the Annual Report of the Brooklyn Botanic Gar- 
den for 1930, mentioned one of the functions of the garden as “ an 
attempt to preserve a bit of the country in urban surroundings.” 
This is perhaps the keynote of our treatment of the wild-flower 
garden, which during the past year has been undergoing recon- 
struction. The beds, which were the feature of this area, have 
been entirely obliterated and their place has been taken by habitat 
areas, each designed to represent some outstanding feature of 
vegetation to be found within one hundred miles of New York. 
Little has been done in the region of New York to preserve the 
unique habitats which are required by many species, and as a con- 
sequence some of our most interesting wild plants are doomed so 
far as their growth in the vicinity of a large city is concerned, 
the chief adverse factors being the cutting of woodlands and the 
draining of swamps and bogs. The Orchidaceae are especially 
sensitive to such changes. 
The past year has been spent largely in providing the en- 
vironmental background for the growth of native plants. It has 
been the intention since the Local Flora Section was started (in 
1915) to grow representatives of all the native species of flower- 
ing plants and ferns. It is hoped that this section will be opened 
to the public some time during the year 1932, but construction 
work and the necessity for newly-planted material to get a good 
start may perhaps delay the opening. Many undesirable trees and 
shrubs have already been cut out, but this work must be done with 
discretion and it will be many years before all the introduced 
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trees and shrubs will have vanished from the section. I am 
especially indebted to Mr. Free for his whole-hearted cooperation 
in carrying out plans for grading, planting of trees and shrubs, 
and amelioration of soil conditions. Our greatest need for the 
coming year is a limestone wall or ledge, similar, on a small scale, 
to the brook ledges in the Japanese Garden. The selected site has 
an excellent shaded northern exposure where it will be possible 
to grow walking fern, bladder ferns, and a number of the rarer 
rock ferns of our region, as well as many flowering plants which 
require optimum soil conditions for their spectacular growth. The 
total amount needed for this construction is about $550. 
