220 
Plantations 
Perhaps the largest service which the Garden has rendered to 
the City as a whole is the conversion of a tract of 50 acres, largely 
unused land and part of it an unsightly dumping ground when 
taken over in 1914 by the Garden, into what the daily papers have 
referred to as the most beautiful spot in Greater New York. In 
- GACTUS FAMILY | 
~ 3-CEREUS TRIBE 
LEAVE. 
S ABSENT 
FLOWERS USUALLY WITH TUBES. 
GEREUS ECHINOGAGTUS _ 
EPIPHYLLUM RHIPSALIS © 
CEPRLOCRRL US OBL 
Carn Pay 
Mm Rio 
Fre. 20. Label on ground glass in the Conservatory. (6622.) 
addition to being a thing of beauty, the plantations of the Garden 
perform an important educational function as an outdoor mu- 
seum of living plants. It is now a daily occurrence to see visitors 
copying labels, making sketches and paintings of plants, flowers, 
and other features, and making other educational use of the 
erounds. Visitors frequently come into the Laboratory Building 
for information about the exhibits, or to look up questions in the 
Library or Herbarium, or, at times, to express their appreciation 
