Ill 



resin oi Guaiac. These seeds have been planted in the propagating 

 house. 



Bureau of Information. — As usual, we have received many re- 

 quests for information and assistance, by mail, by telephone, and 

 in person. The time consumed in complying with these requests 

 represents a considerable share of all our working days — far more 

 than this brief note would seem to indicate. 



Respectfully submitted, 



Arthur Harmount Graves, 

 Curator of Public Instruction. 



REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF ELEMENTARY 

 INSTRUCTION FOR 1940 



To tiik Director : 



I hereby present my annual report for the Department of Ele- 

 mentary Instruction for the year 1940. 



Referring to my report of last year, the class of W.P.A. ex- 

 cursion teachers mentioned as being trained in December 1939, 

 not alone in knowledge of our economic greenhouse material and 

 of our grounds, but in educational principles and pedagogy, con- 

 tinued through January 1940, and for part of the spring. The 

 Department felt this was a real contribution to W.P.A. educational 

 work. These same young teachers, in the spring and fall, con- 

 ducted classes around our grounds and through the greenhouses. 

 These were classes coming to both the Botanic Garden and the 

 Brooklyn Museum. 



Figures for attendance at our visiting classes and lectures appear 

 in the report of the Curator of Public Instruction. It might be 

 pertinent here to state that, while in the year of 1940 the attendance 

 in visiting classes was slightly lower than in the preceding year, 

 the number of sessions has been greater. This means, of course, 

 that smaller groups have been taken, and some figures have been 

 reduced because of the W.P.A. excursion teachers taking classes 

 that otherwise would have been entirely in our hands, hut because 

 of their help and assistance, have been ours only in part. All the 

 formal teaching scheduled by the Department of Elementary In- 



