45 



The City and the Garden 



The advantages to the City of its partnership with private boards 

 of administration in the conduct of its pul)hc museums and botanic 

 gardens are typicahy ihustrated in tlie contributions above Hstech 



The Permanent Improvements ($35,000) are on city-owned 

 land and become the property of New York City. In ah proba- 

 bihty, none of these gifts would have materialized if the Garden 

 area had been developed merely as a park administered by the 

 City. 



The Endowment Gift, of $10,721, is chiefly to enrich the ac- 

 tivities of the Department of Elementary Instruction which has 

 charge of our extensive work for the children of the public schools. 

 As stated earlier in this rej^ort, nearly 79 per cent, of the budget 

 of this department is provided from private funds. 



llie Collections Fund ($3,537) is used chiefly to purchase 

 plants, books for the library, herbarium specimens, and other items 

 essential to the conduct of the Botanic Garden. We are wholly 

 dependent on private funds for these purposes, and the library 

 and other collections are open free daily to the public. 



The Mem.bership Dues ($4,543) are also used for the library, 

 the purchase of ])lants, the publication of the Annual Report (re- 

 quired by the City), announcements of ])ublic lectures and courses 

 of instruction, and other purjroses from which the pulilic benefits. 



Capital Outlay Budget 



It is twenty-five years since the first section of our Laboratory 

 Building was occupied, and twenty years since the remainder of 

 the com])leted building was occupied. During these periods there 

 have been only minor repairs and replacements to the heating 

 system (l)ipe lines and radiators) and the plumbing, in both the 

 building and the conservatories. 



The w^ater is su])plied from the artesian wells of the old village 

 of Flatbush water comi)any, and is very hard. Owing to this 

 fact, the water pipes have become so clogged that one cannot see 

 through a section of pi]:ie held to the light, and water passes 

 through very slowly, and under such reduced pressure that it has 

 become impossil)le to throw a stream from the hose in the plant 



