The following report of the Committee on Botany 
was presented to the Board of Overseers at their meeting held 
on May 6th last. It was signed by all the members of the Committee. 
Last year*s Committee spoke of the work being handicapped 
by "the necessity of turning over the direction of the laboratory 
work in Botany I to untrained assistants." We would call your 
attention to this report, as the same needs exist today. 
The work may be divided for purposes of observation 
into 
1. Research work of professors and students. 
3. General instruction to students. 
About $30,000 is paid out annually in salaries for in¬ 
struction in this Department. This is five percent on a capital 
of 1600,000, yet the plant equipment and apparatus, with which 
these trained men must work, is probably not worth more than say |6000. 
From a business standpoint, therefore, the Department is upside aown. 
In fact, no business would expect to live today in such antiquated 
surroundings and with so little opportunity for efficiency. 
The laboratories are situated in the Botanical Museum 
where the light is poor, and facilities for professors or students 
to work entirely inadequate. 
With a teaching force of which the University may well be 
proud, the opportunities for research work are not at all comparable 
with the laboratories of many small colleges or even high schools. 
Further, the study of minute organisms of cell structure 
and development demands the use of chemicals, running water and fire, 
which are a constant menace to the safety of the Museum and its 
contents. The priceless treasures contained in the Museum would be 
greatly damaged by water even if the fire itself were put out. 
Pierce Hall, we understand, is to be released in part 
