{ 267 ) 
REPORT OF THE SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS. 
To tHE Boarp or Manacers, NEw Yorx Boranicau 
GARDEN. 
Gentlemen: The Scientific Directors have held three meet- 
ings during the past year, on January 13, on October 20, and 
on December 17. The Board has been increased in accord- 
ance with your action, and added strength has thus been 
given it by the election of Mr. C. F. Cox and Professor F. 
S. Lee. 
The scientific work in progress at the Garden has been 
carried on with unusual energy. The increased number of 
persons who come to us for carrying out special lines of work 
attests the appreciation in which we are held by the botanical 
public of this country, and our standing among the great bo- 
tanical centers of the world is already recognized by botanists 
in foreign lands. 
The past year has been notable in the extent of botanical 
exploration carried on in the American tropics, and the policy 
of sending trained botanists to secure material for museum 
and herbarium has been amply justified by the results. 
From subtropical Florida to the Leeward Islands explorers 
have been bringing together material, so that our collections 
from these regions are becoming enormous, and with them 
our knowledge of the distribution and extent of our tropical 
flora is becoming more and more accurate and complete. 
Not less important have been the additions to our collec- 
tions and library by purchase, made possible by extensive 
gifts from members of your body. 
A most important step has been taken in the establishment 
of a tropical laboratory in Jamaica under our control. This 
has long been a dream of American botanists, and its speedy 
realization may be regarded as a direct outcome of our ex- 
ploration in the tropics and will be not only a material aid to 
all the interests of the Garden and its development, but like- 
wise a boon to American botany and American botanists in 
general. 
