Prize for the most acceptable paper in a field of science covered 

 by the Academy or an Affiliated Society. The title of the paper 

 was. The inheritance of resistance of oat hybrids to loose and 

 covered smut. This will be published in the American Journal of 

 Totally for February, 1928, as Brooklyn Botanic Garden Contri- 

 bution No. 55. 



Non-technical reports of the year's investigations are given on 

 pages 43-59 following. 



School Service 



Quantity and Quality 



Every educational agency, from Kindergarten to University, has 

 shown astounding numerical increases since the close of the World 

 War. There is often a tendency to confuse size with quality, but 

 there is no inherent merit in larger figures. The steady and 

 fairly rapid increases in attendance figures at all of our educa- 

 tional functions during the past few years are reported as a matter 

 of record, and as an indication that there is a large and in< reasiu 

 public demand for the services of a botanic garden in ibis locality. 

 There are ilso, in lh< < figures, definite indications of certain needs 

 in the way of equipment and personnel. 



Since attendance at all of our educational offerings is wholly 

 voluntary, it is a fair inference that the attendance would not in- 

 crease nor attain impressive figures if the work offered did not 

 possess elements of merit and meet a real need. It is, therefore, 

 a significant fact that teachers in 1927, brought to the Garden 525 

 classes comprising over 32.000 pupils; that 670 teachers consulted 

 with members ot our stall" during the year, concerning classroom 

 problems affecting over 21,000 pupils; that study material (mostly 

 of living plants and plant parts) was supplied to nearly 3,000 

 teachers in quantity sufficient for the instruction of over 109,000 

 pupils; that over 700,000 [jackets of seeds were supplied to over 

 260,000 pupils for planting in school and home gardens ; and that 

 over 25,000 living plants (largely raised by children of our own 

 classes in our children's greenhouses) were placed in classrooms 

 of 130 schools, not only for study, but to make the classrooms more 

 attractive. All of these figures show substantial gains over a 

 year ago as is shown in the following summary (Table I). 



