50 
section is already very pressing. The five private research rooms 
contained in the first section are being occupied for offices; the 
room intended for an elementary laboratory is occupied by the 
library; and the physiological laboratory room, largely by the 
herbarium, There is no auditorium available for the giving of 
public lectures or the holding of public assemblies of any consider- 
able size. The only room available for an audience will not seat 
more than about 60 persons. For this reason, we are unable to 
inaugurate certain lines of public instruction for which we are 
fully equipped in the matter of staff and in all other ways. The 
need of additional storage room in the basement is very pressing, 
as is also the need of at least one more class room, and a labo- 
ratory room. ‘ 

The importance of completing the conservatories may also be 
urged at this time. The acquisition and proper installation of our 
conservatory collections will be delayed and hampered until our 
conservatories are completed. The need of the service basement 
underneath the two south wings of the conservatories is also be- 
coming increasingly urgent. 
Municipal Appropriation for Maintenance.—The City of New 
York has been most liberal with the Garden in the matter of 
annual appropriations for maintenance, yet for a new institution, 
projected along broad lines, and growing vigorously, the appro- 
priations have not been large. In fact, it is only by an economy 
so rigid as to imperil efficiency that the Garden can now be run 
with the sum annually appropriated by the city, and this is made 
possible only by the devotion of a loyal and enthusiastic, as well 
as efficient, staff. In the matter of salaries, it may be noted that 
the salaries paid to members of the Garden staff are not high for 
the class and character of the services rendered. The salaries of 
our highest paid positions, the curatorships, are less than the 
salaries paid in our best colleges and universities, less, even, than 
the salaries of assistant teachers in the high schools of New York 
City, and very much less than the salaries of first assistants (heads 
of departments) in the high schools. This is neither appropriate 
nor commensurate with the preparation, experience, and reputa- 
tion demanded of the incumbents, and should be regarded only as 
a temporary condition, to be improved at the earliest possible date. 


