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Soil wuprovement; grading; construction of brook: The 
most important of our operations on the grounds have been the 
completion of the soil improvement on the central meadow, the 
grading of the southern half of this area, and the construction 
of the artificial brook. The scheme of soil improvement followed 
was outlined in the first annual report, and the details of 
this work, together with the grading and the construction of the 
brook, are given in the accompanying report of the curator of 
plants. In excavating for our laboratory building, the con- 
tractors fortunately uncovered a layer of blue clay, which fur- 
nished sufficient material for lining the bed of the brook. 
here were two important gains in having the above men- 
tioned work done by day’s labor by our own force, rather than by 
having it done by contract. In the first place, it was done more 
promptly. We shall now be able to plant this area during 1913, 
but otherwise the planting would doubtless have been delayed 
at least six months or a year, as the specifications for grading 
the remainder of the area have not yet been prepared. 
In the second place, the work was done more cheaply. It 
was estimated by the landscape architects that it would cost 
$5,000 to build the brook, and about $40,100 for top-soiling the 
area, or a total of $45,100 for all operations. The total cost of 
the grading and the brook (allowing $500 for work yet to be 
done) is $2,923.61, and the total cost of the soil improvement 
($1,303.64 in 1911 + $985.89 in I9g12) is $2,289.53, making a 
total for all work of $5,213.14. This amounts to a saving of 
($45,100—$5,213.14) $39,886.86 over the estimated contract fig- 
ure. Or, to state it another way, the soil improvement, grading, 
and construction of brook have all been accomplished for only 
about $200 more than the estimated cost of the brook alone. 
Removing and resetting the iron fence: The tax budget for 
1912 included an appropriation of $1,500 under replacements and 
repairs. The appropriation was asked for primarily to meet the 
expense of removing the iron boundary fence between the Gar- 
den and Mt. Prospect reservoir property, and resetting it along 
the new party line. After failure to secure bids from six dif- 
ferent contractors, the contract was awarded to The J. L. Mott 
Iron Works to do the work, according to specifications, for the 
sum of $957.00. The low figure of the bid, as comer with 


