To the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. 

 Gentlemen : 

 At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the New York 

 Botanical Garden, held September 27th, 1897, the following 

 statement was ordered presented to your Honorable Board : 



The establishment of a botanical garden in the City of 

 New York has been actively prosecuted since the year 1889, 

 the necessary legislation having been obtained in an act 

 passed in 1891 and amended in 1894 and 1896. The project 

 through all this period received most cordial support from 

 the city officials and from the public. 



The present Board of Managers was organized on March 

 21st, 1895, and on June 18th, 1895, the condition of the Act 

 of Incorporation requiring the subscription of $250,000 was 

 fully met. At a meeting of the Managers held on that date, 

 a special committee of five members was appointed as a 

 Committee on Plans, and this Committee has been since 

 continued. The securing of the necessary $250,000 as a 

 subscription fund was reported to the Commissioners of 

 Parks, and in the summer of 1895 the said Commissioners 

 approved the selection of grounds for the Garden in Bronx 

 Park, as authorized and directed by the Act of Incorpora- 

 tion, and this selection of site was duly accepted by the 

 Board of Managers. On October 30th, 1895, the present 



