(8) 
Plants and Planting 
The report of the Head Gardener, hereto appended, shows 
that 12,053 species of plants were represented in the collec- 
tions during the year, an increase of 451 species over the 
record of 1903. A large number of specimens have been 
replaced by better ones of the same species, and the number 
of individual plants cultivated in the conservatories has been 
somewhat reduced by the elimination of imperfect specimens 
or of duplicates, many of which have been sent to other in- 
stitutions in exchange. The increased areas taken into cul- 
tivation, and the largely increased areas of lawns and finished 
banks, necessitate greater expenditure in maintenance. 
The capacity of the public conservatories for the housing 
of plants has been nearly reached, and I now recommend 
that plans be prepared for the construction of another range 
of greenhouses, as contemplated by the original plans and 
studies made in 1896 and 1897. I referred to this approach- 
ing need in my annual report for 1902 (BULLETIN N. Y. Bor. 
Garp. 2: 412). As there stated, the cost of this proposed 
structure should be very much less than the range already 
built, on account of much less height being required. With 
the intention of building an additional range of glass, the 
present range was designed essentially for tropical plants of 
large or of considerable size, deferring the construction of 
smaller houses to the future. This proposed new structure 
should have a floor area at least as great as the present range, 
and even with this development, we would not have as much 
glass as has been found necessary at the Royal Gardens at 
Kew, England, where a very much milder climate permits the 
cultivation of many more species out of doors. 
t will be recalled that the modification of our original 
studies, made by the Park Commissioners in 1897, caused the 
abandonment of the first suggested site of the present glass 
building and their construction where they now stand, and 
the position first selected for them has proved to be very de- 
sirable for parts of the collection of conifers and for the mor- 
phological garden. It seems desirable from the present de- 
