49 
to time hereafter, and provision has been made for these changes 
in the method of construction of the dams. 
The successful completion of this work by our own force 
has demonstrated the practicability of the Garden undertaking 
work of this character for two reasons. In the first place, by 
this method we secured the area under development in a very 
much shorter time than is possible by contract work, thus throw- 
ing open for botanical exhibition purposes the tract of 5 1/5 acres 
at once. In the second place, the estimated cost of the construc- 
tion of the brook by contract was $5,000. No estimate was 
furnished for grading the area, but taking the price submitted 
by contractors of 45 cents per cubic yard for material handled 
on the grounds, it would be about $1,825. In other words, the 
grading and building of the brook was estimated to cost, by con- 
tract, about $6,825. Carefully kept records of the expense in- 
volved in this work show that it cost the Garden $2,423.61 up to 
October 1st. Perhaps $500.00 should be added for work still to 
be done on the upper end of the brook, on land not yet available 
for work, and for minor repairs in 1913, but even with these 
additions there has been a total saving of $3,902.00 on the es- 
timated contract cost of the brook and the grading. 
Other minor grading operations were carried on, notably 
along the Flatbush Avenue path, when one half of Section III 
had to be taken up and stored in the nursery until the desired 
grade is reached, probably in the fall of 1913. 
Along the line of the reservoir there was more grading done 
by our own forces to prepare the way for the moving of the 
iron fence, by The J. L. Mott Iron Works, from our old boundary 
line to the present one. This completes the record of grading 
work. 
Completion of the Soil Improvement Scheme 
The final stages of the soil improvement scheme, outlined 
in my report of last year,* have been carried out successfully 
and a permanent lawn is now established on the area. Operations 
for 1912 cost $985.89, which, added to the 1911 expense account 
for the preliminary work, makes the total expense for this work 
*Brooklyn Bot. Gard. REcorD 1:53. 1912. 
