75 
Miss Rusk continued to serve on the Local Flora Committee of 
the Torrey Botanical Club, and also as Librarian of the American 
Fern Society. 
On June 24 I sailed for England, in order to visit again the 
principal botanic gardens there and in Scotland, and at the same 
time to study specimens of the chestnut (Castanea) in various 
herbaria. I wanted to see also the living specimens of this genus, 
in the botanic gardens and elsewhere. Several days were spent at 
the herbaria of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, 
London, of the Oxford Botanic Garden, and of the Edinburgh 
Botanic Garden. The botanic gardens of Chelsea (London), Kew, 
Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, and Edinburgh were visited. On 
August 23 I returned to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 
On January 3 I was elected president of the Torrey Botanical 
Hi 
Club, the oldest botanical society in America, an organization of 
more than 500 members, who represent most of the states of the 
Union and many foreign countries. I have presided at most of 
the meetings of the Club and its Council, throughout the year. 
I continued to serve as Editor of the Plant Section of General 
Biology for Biological Abstracts, and, as usual, had general super- 
vision of the publishing of the Contributions of the Garden. 
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS 
The School Art League of New York City, Miss Margaret L. 
Murphy, Teacher-in-Charge, met in the auditorium of the Labo- 
ratory Building on February 25. The attendance was 606. 
Twelve “Exhibit of the Week” Bulletins were installed at 
various points in the plantations during 1939. This feature was, 
as usual, in charge of Miss Hilda Vilkomerson. It is described 
in detail in my report for 1937. 
Woods for Yale Collection—Two comparatively rare kinds of 
wood—that of Smoke Tree (Rhus Cotinus) and of the Persian 
Lilac (Syringa persica )—were sent to Professor Samuel J. Record 
of the Yale School of Forestry, to add to the collection there. 
Branchville Nature Conference —On May 19-21, I attended the 
Branchville Nature Conference at the “ Pines,’ Branchville, N. J. 
I attended some of the field trips and led one, besides, as President 
of the Torrey Botanical Club, addressing one of the evening meet- 
ings. 
