mens of crude and refined products of plants used in the 

 arts, the sciences and the industries, such as foods, drugs, 

 fibers, gums, resins, sugars, rubbers, spices, dye-stuffs, 

 oils, and many others. 



The Garden conducts extensive explorations by its 



scientific staff and other agents. These have been con- 



„ , ,. fined, so far, for the most part 



Exploration r 



to the western hemisphere, and 

 especially to such parts of it as are less known botanically, 

 including portions of the United States, the Bermuda 

 Islands, the West Indies, especially the Bahamas, Cuba, 

 Porto Rico, Trinidad and the Virgin Islands, and the 

 northern countries of South America, including Brazil, 

 Colombia, Ecuador, Guiana and Venezuela. From these 

 explorations rich quantities of botanical material are con- 

 tinually flowing into the Garden for identification, de- 

 scription and preservation in its herbarium, its museum, 

 its plantations and its greenhouses. Much additional 

 material is obtained by purchase, gift and exchange. In 

 these various ways, the collections are being enriched 

 constantly and are growing in importance. 



The Garden has made itself one of the City's important 

 educational institutions. By providing specimens it 



encourages the spread of in- 

 Education . & \ . 



formation about plants in the 

 schools. Hundreds of school children visit the Garden 

 annually in parties, under the guidance of their teachers, 

 and are given personal instruction by the Garden's staff. 

 Under its system of docentry, a member of the staff es- 

 corts parties of visitors on week-day afternoons to dif- 

 ferent parts of the grounds and gives an explanatory talk 

 on its objects of interest. On every Saturday afternoon 

 throughout the year, and in summer every Sunday after- 

 noon also, a free illustrated lecture is given at the Garden. 

 These lectures cover such diverse topics as "Plant Hy- 



[5] 



