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REPORT OF THE GENERAL ASSISTANT. 
To rHE DirREcTOR-IN-CHIEF. 
Dear Sir: T have the honor to submit herewith my report 
as General Assistant upon the various systematic plantations 
under my care during the past year. An account of the 
progress made in each tract is given below, and at the end 
of this report will be found appended detailed lists of the 
plants growing in each, and also a list showing the total 
number of families under cultivation; in each family the 
number of genera is indicated and the number of species in 
each genus. A list of accessions of plants and seeds is also 
appended. 
Herbaceous Grounds. 
A number of the beds have been enlarged and ten new 
ones added to those already existing, making a total of 123 
beds in the tract. There have been grown here during the 
year plants representing 104 families, 674 genera, and 2084 
species and varieties. A number of those of the preceding 
year failed, the vines and trailers hitherto grown here were 
transferred to the viticetum, and the growing of some of the 
obnoxious annuals was dispensed with. This materially 
decreased the number cultivated in this tract, but it has more 
than been offset by the new ones secured from other sources, 
largely obtained from seeds secured in exchange with the 
Botanic Gardens at Cambridge, England; Berlin, Germany ; 
and Smith College, at Northampton, Mass. 
In the matter of labeling considerable has been accom- 
plished. Family signs, indicating the common and botanical 
names, have been placed in all the beds and lagoons, requir- 
ing 128 for the purpose. Additional individual labels to the 
number of 845 have been made and placed in position. 
Fruticetum. 
(Including the Salicetum.) 
A number of the beds have been enlarged and several new 
ones added, necessitated by the addition of species new to 
