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REPORT OF THE HEAD GARDENER. 
To THE DirEcTOR-IN-CHIEF. 
Dear Str: J have the honor to submit the following report 
as Head Gardener for the year 1900: 
Over four thousand packets of seeds, obtained mainly from 
other botanical gardens, have been sown in the nurseries, and 
the result has been very satisfactory, particularly in shrubs; 
many of these are still in nursery rows, while some have 
been used in filling up gaps in the Fruticetum and in the 
permanent boundary borders. The plants raised from the 
seeds of hardy herbaceous plants were set in the Herbaceous 
Grounds, and to help make a show along the borders. There 
has been no unnecessary propagation of plants that could 
not be used advantageously in the future. 
In the spring a strip was plowed and prepared along the 
western or railroad border, and in an ‘‘ off-hand” way sown 
with showy annuals and supplemented by surplus from the 
seed beds; this produced a brilliant effect within a very short 
time, and was a public educator on the use of annuals for 
immediate effect in economical planting. 
The old reaches and lagoons of the Bronx River are pecu- 
liarly weil adapted to the cultivation of aquatics, needing 
very little excavation and preparation to produce unrivalled 
homes for these interesting plants. We have succeeded in 
establishing a considerable number already, especially the 
Nelumbos, and some of the water-lilies, which will never 
need replanting if the muskrats leave them alone. 
The Fruticetum is already beginning to show the result of 
taking advantage of one of the old level plains of the Bronx 
Valley; representatives of nearly all the natural families con- 
taining hardy shrubs are in place, and additions can readily 
be made as fast as material comes to hand: the work has 
been accomplished very economically, most of the plants 
being seedlings raised in the nurseries. No fertilizers have 
been required, the natural top-soil being rich enough for a 
