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in its seventh year. All the activities of this club are supervised 
by a Staff advisor. 
Docentry 
Docentry is a name first applied, about ten or fifteen years ago, 
by museums, to the plan of having a teaching guide to assist visi- 
tors in obtaining the most from their visits to the museum with 
the least expenditure of time and effort. The docent is not merely 
a guide who knows where exhibits are and how to reach them most 
directly, but is, in addition to this, competent to give instruction 
concerning the exhibits. All members of the Botanic Garden staff 
may act as docents from time to time, but this work regularly 
devolves upon the members of the educational departments. 
Docentry service is free to members of the Garden; to non-mem- 
bers a nominal charge is made, as indicated on the third page of 
the cover of this pamphlet. By one plan a docent makes regular 
trips scheduled in advance; the most satisfactory plan, so far, at 
the Botanic Garden, is to have parties (of not less than six adults ) 
make special arrangements in advance for the service of a docent. 
Bureau of Information 
The Bureau of Information includes practically every member 
of staff, for questions asked are referred to the one considered 
most competent to reply. Innumerable residents of Brooklyn and 
other Boroughs, both members and non-members of the Garden, 
inquire during the year concerning the care of house plants, lawns, 
trees and shrubs, places for purchasing seeds, plants, and garden 
supplies, fertilizers and all manner of garden operations, plant 
diseases, formulae for insecticides, native wild flowers, lectures 
on plant life, and a myriad of questions concerning plants, their 
uses and their products. Local authors are supplied with in- 
formation and often with photographs for illustrations of books 
they are writing. Artists inquire concerning the use of plants and 
plant forms in design. Gas companies, florists, and neighborhood 
associations have been given information as to the effect of illumi- 
nating gas on trees and greenhouse plants. 
A thorough investigation and report has been made for a local 
smelter company as to the effects of smelter fumes on vegetation. 
