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REPORT OF THE FIRST ASSISTANT 
Dr. N. L. Britron, Director-1n-Cuier. 
Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith my first annual 
report as First Assistant. 
On reporting for duty at the New York Botanical Garden 
February 10, I learned that no ex officio duties were at- 
tached to my position, and I was charged by you with 
various administrative and executive duties. Some of these 
have been merely routine matters, such as attending to 
correspondence, and overseeing the work of certain em- 
ployees, and require no special mention in this place. 
The editorship of the Journal of the New York Botanical 
Garden, which had been assigned to Dr. Francis W. 
Pennell, associate curator, was transferred to me with the 
Febaiany 4 issue. The twelve numbers for the year include 
258 pages, 17 full-page half-tone plates, and 1 text figure 
in zinc. Although copy has been sent to the printers 
regularly on the 25th of the month preceding, only two 
numbers have appeared within the month of issue. Much 
good can accrue to the Garden by the prompt publication 
of a well-written and well-illustrated magazine. I woul 
respectfully recommend the enlargement of the Journal, 
when funds are properly available, to an average size of 
48 pages and 4 to 8 plates per issue, with the extension of 
its scope to include any botanical and horticultural articles 
of interest to the members of the Garden, and believe that 
the increase in membership of the Garden due to the 
Journal would in a short time be sufficient to carry the 
extra expense. 
As a result of negotiations begun in 1918, a report of 
which has been published in the Journal (20: 51-61), a 
course of instruction in gardening was established in 
January. Its development, under the immediate super- 
vision of Mr. Kenneth R. Boynton, Supervisor of Garden 
Instruction, has proceeded steadily throughout the year. 
In this development I have aided with advice on the 
arrangement of the curriculum, on the scope and content 
