82 Report of the President 



directly in line with the original plans of Mr. Jesup. It has 

 already been of great service in the purpose for which it is 

 being brought together, namely, to serve as a standard for the 

 use of architect, lumber dealer, inventor and teacher in the 

 work of comparison and identification of the various woods of 

 the world as they come to hand. 



Because of the continued lack of a sufficient fund, another 



year has passed with the order not placed for the mural deco- 



, _ . rations planned for the hall, and no 



Mural Decoration 



, _ _ _ , , work has been done on the various 



and Forestry Models • , . 



models proposed for the alcoves of 



the hall, to constitute educational exhibits on such subjects as 



forest fires, denudation of watersheds, erosion and floods. 



No other institution in America has a greater opportunity to 



create an enlightened sentiment on questions of conservation 



than has the American Museum, already an attractive center 



for the visits of the million children of New York City. 



Considerable work has been done in preparation of ad- 

 ditional descriptive labels for the Jesup Collection. Material 

 has been obtained from the field and studies made for some 

 twenty-five new wax models of tree leaves, flowers and fruits. 

 A revision and enlargement of the Handbook, Trees and 

 Forestry, is awaiting sufficient funds for publication. During 

 the summer it was the pleasure of the Museum to extend the 

 hospitality of the institution to Dr. H. R. Francis, assistant 

 professor of landscape engineering in the New York State 

 College of Forestry at Syracuse, while he was carrying on, in 

 cooperation with the Tree Planting Association of New York, 

 a street tree survey of the Borough of Manhattan. 



Several valuable gifts of wood have been made to the 

 department during the year. Among them are specimens of 

 Philippine mahogany (Shorea negrosensis), a wood that is 

 becoming increasingly important in this country as a furniture 

 wood; 20 specimens of rare South African woods from Mount 

 Silinda, the only forested region of South Rhodesia; several 

 pieces of Ochroma lagopus from South America, one of the 

 lightest woods known, used for life belts and life boats; and 

 87 specimens of Mexican woods from Oaxaca, Mexico. We 



