(324) 
Partly because of newspaper publicity calling attention 
to special displays of growing plants, partly because of 
the housing situation in the city, and doubtless for other 
reasons as well, the number of visitors in the Garden has 
been notably greater than ever before. On pleasant 
Sundays they enter our grounds at the Elevated Railway 
Entrance at a rate as high as one hundred per minute, 
while other entrances add considerable numbers. Al- 
though our grounds are large enough to prevent actual 
congestion, still the problem of caring for so many visitors, 
of directing them to places of interest, of providing them 
with benches and otherwise aiding their personal comfort, 
of guarding against petty depredations, of cleaning the 
grounds of litter, is sufficient to tax our resources to the 
utmost without satisfactorily meeting the situation. The 
chief present needs in caring for our regular Sunday crowds 
include the improvement of the old comfort stations and 
the erection of new ones, the distribution of more benches 
about the grounds, the provision of more receptacles for 
waste, the erection of path railings and warning signs, 
and the employment for Sunday duty of several more 
keepers. These matters are already receiving official 
attention. 
Although conditions on the grounds on week days are 
entirely different, more labor is needed in picking up litter 
left on Sunday and more keepers are urgently needed as 
patrols through the grounds to prevent minor depredations 
by boys and thoughtless or careless adults. Additional 
police protection is also a highly important desideratum. 
Various societies and clubs have used our grounds and 
buildings throughout the year and are reported in detail 
y the Supervisor of Public Instruction. Of special in- 
terest among them was the American Iris Society, which 
was organized in the Mansion January 29. Shortly after 
its organization the Society entered into an agreement 
with the Garden, after approval by our counsel, for the 
establishment of a trial and demonstration garden of 
