140 



Dr. Robert V. Drexler, of the department of botany of the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois, has been appointed an instructor in botany at 

 Coe College, Iowa. 



Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In the annual report of the Garden 

 for 1939 the attendance for the year is given as over 1,798,000, 

 the largest in the history of the Garden. The herbarium w^as 

 increased by over 45,000 specimens. Exhibits were maintained at 

 the World's Fair in the Gardens on Parade, in the New York 

 State Building and in the City Building. Research work was con- 

 tinued on the resistance of oat hybrids to various races of smut, 

 on breeding chestnuts resistant to blight, on hybridizing iris, on 

 genetics, and on systematic botany. 



New York Botanical Garden. The annual report for 1939 lists 

 improvements made to the museum building, including the pre- 

 paring of work rooms and a class room in the basement ; planting 

 and the laying out of new walks on the grounds ; changes in the 

 green houses and the formal opening of one house as a tropical 

 flower garden. 2,950 plants and 3,900 bulbs were planted in the 

 Thompson Memorial Rock Garden and 1,500 plants put out in the 

 Wild Flower Garden. To the herbarium were added some 30,000 

 specimens, bringing the total to over 1,900,000. The garden had 

 an exhibit in the Gardens on Parade and in the City Building at 

 the World's Fair. 



Dr. C. Stuart Gager, director of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 

 was elected an honorary member of the Royal New Zealand Insti- 

 tute of Horticulture at a recent meeting of the Institute. 



Dr. J. Andrew Drushel, professor of education at New York 

 University, died on June 20, in Plainfield, N. J. He joined the 

 faculty of New York University in 1924 and for four years taught 

 mathematics. In 1928 he became a professor of education. He was 

 interested in botany and nature study. In 1920-21 he was president 

 of the American Nature Study Society. He had been a member of 

 the Torrey Botanical Club for many years. Dr. Drushel was sixty- 

 seven years old. 



Dr. Ferman L. Pickett, ])rofessor and head of the botany de- 

 partment at Washington State College for the last twenty-three 

 years died on June 26 at Pullman, Washington. He was fifty-nine 

 years old. 



