207 
The driveway and sidewalk approaches to the front of the 
museum building have been completed, and the space between 
them and about the fountains in front of that building is being 
top-soiled and sodded. This work will be completed during 
November. 
Grading and the building of driveways and paths through the 
fruticetum and the north meadows are progressing rapidly, and 
plans are in preparation for the stone bridges to carry the drive- 
way and paths across the Bronx River, and across the valley in 
which the ponds northeast of the Museum building are situated. 
The original study to make the top-soil and sod stripped from 
the areas devoted to roads, paths and buildings go as nearly as 
possible to make the completed planting surfaces has been care- 
fully followed. This has of course necessitated stacking the soil at 
a number of places from which it is now being removed. All the 
rock excavated in grading operations has been similarly saved, 
and is being used for the Telford foundations of roads and paths. 
L. Britton. 
A NEW PALM FOR THE CONSERVATORIES, 
At the conservatories of Mr. H. McK. Twombly, at Madison, 
N. J., there has been growing for some years a specimen of the 
wine or toddy palm, Caryota urens L. That this plant has re- 
ceived the best of care and attention is attested by its magnificent 
proportions and the vigorous appearance of its growth. This 
palm has been presented to the Garden by Mr. Twombly and 
h 
interesting family. s will be seen from the accompanying illus- 
tration, it considerably overtops the other palms in the palm- 
house, and vies in height with the large bamboo, near which it is 
placed. The distance from the top of the tub to the tip of the 
uppermost leaf is 36 feet, 15 feet of this length composing the 
trunk which is about 15 inches in diameter at the base. Its 
broad decompound leaves measure 13 to 15 feet in length and 
their width is but little less, giving the palm a spread of about 28 
feet. The lower leaves are horizontal, with the apex as well as 
the tips of the pinnae gracefully drooping. The ultimate seg- 
