43 
this winter and assembled along the lines which it is planned to 
build during the year, taking advantage of the frozen ground for 
cartage. These paths, it is proposed, shall include one from the 
herbaceous garden northeasterly along the western border of the 
woods and past the museum building to the lakes, one from the 
herbaceous garden southerly through the woods to the southern 
border of the Garden reservation, and a considerable portion of 
those planned on the fruticetum plain north of the museum 
building, perhaps extending one of them northward to the Newell 
Avenue Bridge at the northern end of the Garden now practically 
completed. The rock excavations in the rear of the museum 
building at the same time prepare the ground there for the 
grading necessary to establish the future court of that structure, 
for which drainage is also being provided by the building of a 
drain about 450 feet long from the museum building to the 
upper lake. 
The collection of living orchids of the Missouri Botanical Gar- 
den at St. Louis, were completely destroyed by smoke, from an 
accidental fire in the cellar of the greenhouse containing them, on 
November 7, and many plants of great scientific value were killed 
in this way. It has been a great pleasure to contribute seventy- 
seven species of orchids from our duplicates, to help Professor 
Trelease in re-forming this collection. 
