(25) 
In addition a large number of brief notices of minor results 
have been presented at these meetings. 
Meteorological Observations 
Meteorological observations have been continued through- 
out the year and the records have been added to the series 
which has been kept continuously since 1900. The total pre- 
cipitation for 1905 amounts to 43.95 inches. The total period 
between the latest occurrence of freezing temperature in the 
spring and the earliest in the autumn was 165 days, compared 
with 168 days in 1902, 170 days in 1903, and 167 days in 
1904. Early in the year I was called upon to produce and 
attest these records at the County Supreme Court in order to 
give testimony as to the conditions of rainfall during 1902, 
in a suit brought by property holders against the City for 
damages sustained on account of inadequate sewerage. 
Laboratories 
The appropriation for the laboratories has been expended 
in the increase of the equipment at all points, an extension 
made necessary by the constantly widening scope and impor- 
tance of the investigations pursued in the Garden. Professor 
W. j. Gies has continued to act as consulting chemist, visit- 
ing the laboratories for the purpose of conference with per- 
sons engaged in chemical researches, once and sometimes 
twice weekly during the entire year. Late in the year the 
small stone house east of the Bronx River has been fitted 
with a cement floor, on which stone piers have been built to 
secure steadiness for delicate instruments. Other prepara- 
tions have been made to convert this structure into a phyto- 
physical laboratory. Some special investigations have al- 
ready been begun there by Dr. Wm. Hallock, Professor of 
Physics in Columbia University. 
The roof of the work room of the propagating houses has 
been raised and a second story added, which makes a com- 
modious laboratory suitable for the extensive anatomical and 
taxonomic investigations on the cacti, and other fleshy plants, 
