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needs of the case, and it is hoped that some special gifts 
of money may be made to enable us to fill gaps in that 
collection. The increase of 415 volumes during 1916 was 
mostly obtained by exchanges with other publishing in- 
stitutions and by gifts. Important progress has been 
made in cataloging the library. Here, as in the museums 
and herbarium, additional cases are now required. 
The reports of the Librarian and of the Bibliographer 
hereto appended contain detailed information relative to 
this collection. 
Laboratories and Experimental Grounds 
Investigations by students registered at the Garden have 
been supervised by the Director of the Laboratories and by 
other members of the staff in a considerable variety of sub- 
jects, as appears from the report of the Director of the 
Laboratories hereto appended. There have been 14 for- 
mally registered students during the year, and a much larger 
number of persons have been given privileges for short 
periods of time. Two of these students have been aided 
by grants from the income of the Henry Iden Fund. 
Ground at the nurseries on the eastern side of the Garden 
and portions of the propagating houses have been used for 
experiments connected with plant breeding and plant 
physiology and pathology. 
The desirability of constructing an additional wing to the 
museum building, in order to provide more space for mu- 
seums, herbarium and laboratories, and to permit the ex- 
tension of the library within the present building is most 
desirable, as has been pointed out in previous reports. 
Public Instruction 
Saturday afternoon public lectures were continued in the 
museum building, from April to November, thirty-two such 
lectures being delivered, twenty-one of them by members 
of the staff, eleven by other experts. The first ten of these 
lectures were on horticultural topics. This lecture course 
