({ 201 ) 
Buildings 
Records of maintenance of buildings, the construction of 
additional cases and other furniture, will be found in the re- 
port of the First Assistant and in that of the Superintendent 
of Grounds hereto appended. 
Plans for three houses and the boiler-house of the new 
public conservatories were completed in December; specifi- 
cations for a contract were prepared and are now being 
printed by the Department of Parks; it is expected that a 
contract can be awarded for this work within a few weeks. 
Plants and Planting 
A great deal of additional planting has been accomplished 
during the year in many parts of the grounds, especially in 
the shrub collection (fruticetum) on the plain northeast of the 
museum building, in the collection of conifers (pinetum) on 
the hills and slopes near the public conservatories, in the her- 
baceous garden, and a commencement was made in the fall 
of establishing the economic garden. Many shade trees 
have been planted along the driveways, and the border 
screen along the railway has been completed by the planting 
of a belt of conifers and deciduous trees at the west end of 
the valley of the lakes. The crowded condition of the public 
conservatories has been relieved by the rejection of a large 
number of duplicate plants, many of which have been used in 
exchange with other institutions, and it is not possible to cul- 
tivate many more species in these houses than those now in- 
stalled, but the construction of the new public conservatory 
will permit a great expansion of this collection. The total 
number of species under cultivation in all collections does not 
differ essentially from that reported a year ago. The policy 
of concentrating attention on the more complete labeling of 
the present collection, rather than on the material increase in 
the number of species, has been continued, and much progress 
has been made. 
Detailed accounts of the collections of living plants, their 
cultivation and study, will be found in the report of the Head 
Gardener, hereto appended. 
