DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. 59 



The Greenhouses, located near Ninth avenue and Seventh 

 street, are in fine condition. Extensive improvements have 

 been made to them. Three hundred feet of hot-beds have been 

 added during the year. A very large number of plants have 

 been added to the stock, eliciting the admiration of the numer- 

 ous visitors to the greenhouses. The list of plants includes 

 palms, bromeleads, orchids, ferns, selagenellas and general green- 

 house plants to the number of 10,000, which are now growing 

 and are now in first-class condition. In stock there are about 

 200,000 empty pots, ready for use. We have on hand 500 hot- 

 bed sashes, 3 by six feet. The bulbs that were received early 

 this fall, 120,000 in number, have all been planted, and are 

 divided into twenty-five or thirty different varieties, some of 

 which will flower in the greenhouses during the winter months, 

 the remainder to be used in the flower gardens next spring. 



The Well House has during the year been put in perfect con- 

 dition by the construction of an iron and concrete cover to the 

 well, the adding of fourteen feet to the chimney and the repaint- 

 ing of the same, the repairing of the furnaces and the pumps, and 

 the laying of concrete walks and floorings. 



The Menagerie in Prospect Park consists of the following : 

 Fifty-five sheep, of which twenty-five were raised this year ; one 

 shepherd dog ; seventeen elk (loaned) ; twelve deer, two raised 

 this year ; one sacred cow ; one buffalo ; sixteen rabbits, of which 

 twelve were raised this year ; six bears ; fifty-five geese (Chinese 

 breed), of which thirty were raised this year; seventeen geese, 

 Egyptian breed, five raised this year ; nine ducks, four raised this 

 year ; one swan ; three turkeys ; thirteen peacocks and one 

 hawk. During the year two elk died, one wild cat, three ducks, 

 three turkeys and one hawk. 



There are five thousand one hundred and thirty-one settees in 

 use in the various parks in good condition, of which four thou- 

 sand four hundred and twelve are in Prospect Park, three hun- 



