TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 91 



ting- up the wood from pruning- operations, cleaning- the ice for 

 skating, weeding, mowing grass and raking leaves, and keeping 

 the walks free from paper and refuse. A small proportion also 

 worked on more permanent improvements, such as the laying of 

 water pipes, etc. 



It is a certainty that the spick and span appearance of the 

 Park during the last season was entirely due to this valua})le 

 help, for which our sincre thanks are due to Mr. Wm. H. Mat- 

 thews, Director of the Association for the Improvement of the 

 Condition of the Poor, with whom the various arrangements 

 were made. 



The heavy routine maintenance work was taken care of ])y 

 our own mechanics and laborers, and the fact that every repair 

 and replacement of the last ten years has been done with better 

 materials and along improved designs, is beginning to show re- 

 sults. The substituting of concrete for wood and sheet metal 

 alone is saving a considerable amount of repairs, and the removal 

 of wooden walks and the substitution therefore of tar macadam 

 has also accomplished much. 



The various items attended to during the year are of course, 

 too numerous to mention, but it may be said that we are begin- 

 ning to catch up on the general deterioration of the Park build- 

 ings, fences and grounds, which was taking place. 



The nursery produced the usual number of l)edding and 

 decorative plants for our grounds and buildings. Some propa- 

 gating of trees and shrubs was carried on. The usual amounts 

 of live stock, such as chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs and rats, for 

 food purposes, were bred and reared, and an especially large crop 

 of mangels, cabbages, etc., was raised. 



The recreation grounds east of the Bronx River, were as 

 popular as usual, the general attendance as well as those coming 

 by special picnic permits, being very large. The policing of this 

 section was taken care of as heretofore, the general flood of law- 

 lessness increasing the number of summonses to 246, out of which 

 number only 9 persons were acquitted. 



After close examination of the Reptile House roof, it was 

 found that we were able to restore this roof into fairly good con- 

 dition without tearing down any large portion of the structure. 

 This was accomplished by supplying new copper gutters and cop- 



