REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF PUBLIC INSTRUC- 
TION FOR 1912 
Dr. C. Stuart GaceEr, Director. 
Sir-—I beg to submit herewith my report as Curator of 
Public Instruction for the four months from September 1, 
1912, when my appointment took effect, to December 31, 1912. 
—- 
On August 31 and September 9, en route from the west, 
I made an inspection of two botanical institutions, the Missouri 
Botanical Garden, at St. Louis, and the Phipps Conservatories 
and Hall of Botany, at Pittsburgh. These visits, made at the 
suggestion of the director, have helped materially toward a 
proper understanding of the duties and possible lines of activi- 
ties of botanic gardens in their relation to the public. My formal 
report on this trip will be found in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden 
Recorp for January, 1913, pp. 12-14. 
On my arrival in Brooklyn, the authorities of the Central 
Museum very kindly provided temporary laboratory and office 
facilities and installed therein some necessary conveniences for 
microscopic and other work. 
During the fall a number of visits were made to the Chil- 
dren’s Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences 
in order to observe their methods of correlation with schools, 
and to attend some of their popular lectures to school children. 
Further observations were made during several visits to the 
New York Botanical Garden, and recently (December 30, 1912) 
to the Buffalo Botanic Garden. Such preliminary study of the 
experience of other institutions in their relation to the public, 
and in their co-operation and correlation with schools, helps 
materially toward an adequate orientation of our department of 
public instruction on these important problems. 
After considerable study on the matter, and consultations 
with the director, a tentative outline of the educational activities 
planned for the Garden was prepared. In order to secure further 
advice and help along these lines, a conference of all high school 
teachers of biology in Brooklyn and Queens, whose names and 
