(»() 



Dr. Ralph C. Benedict, professor of biology at Brooklyn Col- 

 lege, continued Eor his twenty-fifth year as resident investigator 

 at the Garden with special reference to ferns. Much study ma- 

 terial was supplied for use in the biology classes of the college. 



Board of Education 



In May Dr. James G. McDonald, President of the Brooklyn 

 Institute ot Ails and Sciences, and ex officio a member ol the 

 Botanic Garden Governing Committee, became one of the seven 

 members of the Board of Education of New York City. 



Classes for Teachers in the Public Schools have been offered 

 for many years. The 1940 Prospectus included announcements 

 ot tour courses which the Board of Education has accepted lor 

 "in-service credit." The total registration ol teachers in these 

 classes for 1940 was 198. Nineteen other courses for adults are 

 also open to teachers, making a total of twenty-three. 



Details of other courses are given in the appended report ol 

 the curator of public instruction (pp. 101-111 ). 



Public School classes accompanied by their teachers, and classes 

 from private and parochial schools, came to the Garden for in- 

 struction to the number of 145 ( ), with a total attendance of (>7 M ( h 

 The posters mailed to teachers in the spring and fall of 1940 an- 

 nounced talks tor classes on 43 different subjects. Since this work 

 was established, in 1913, teachers have brought to the Garden for 

 instruction more than 1,012,000 pupils. 



United States Department oj Agriculture. — A press release of 

 this Department for January 10, 1940, contained the following 

 announcement : 



"Cooperation between the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the 

 federal Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine has resulted 

 in discovery ot methods ol spraying that give practical control of 

 tbrips injury to iris in field and garden plantings. . . . 



"'The iris thrips is believed to be an imported pest and was first 

 observed in 1931. It has been reported from 13 States and is 

 probably present in others. . . . 



Floyd F. Smith of the Federal Bureau and L. Gordon Utter 

 ot the Brooklyn Botanic Garden started investigation of thrips 



