Vol. XX December, 1919 No. 240 JOURNAL OF The New York Botanical Garden EDITOR H. A. GLEASON First Assistant CONTENTS PAOI The New Greenhouses Presented by Messrs. Daniel Guggenheim and Murry Guggenheim a27 The Elm Leaf Beetle 23« The Lotus of Ancient Egypt 231 Hardy Woody Plants in The New York Botanical Garden 232 Conference Notes for November . 236 Ilotes, News and Comment 237 Accessions 2*° Index . 2« PUBLISHED FOR THI GARDEN AT 41 NORTH QUBBN STRBBT, UMCASIO, PA. THB NBW EBA PRINTING COMPANY OFFICERS lOiy PRESIDENT—W. GILMAN THOMPSON VICE-PRESIDENTS FRANCIS LYNDE STETSON TREASURER—JOHN L. MERRILL ASSISTANT TREASURER—HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE SECRETARY—N. L. BRITTON I. ELECTED MANAGERS Term expires January, 1920 EDWARD D. ADAMS DANIEL GUGGENHEIM ROBERT W. DE FOREST JOHN L. MERRILL HENRY W. DE FOREST J. P. MORGAN Term expires January, 1921 N. L. BRITTON LEWIS RUTHERFURD MORRIS W. J. MATHESON FREDERIC R. NEWBOLD W. GILMAN THOMPSON Term expires January, 1922 MURRY GUGGENHEIM GEORGE W. PERKINS ADOLPH LEWISOHN FRANCIS LYNDE STETSON MYLES TIERNEY 2. EX-OFFICIO MANAGERS THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK HON. JOHN F. HYLAN THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC PARKS HON. FRANCIS DAWSON GALLATIN 3. SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS PROF. R. A. HARPER, Chairman EUGENE P. BICKNELL PROF. FREDERIC S. LEE DR. NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER HON. ANNING S. PRALL PROF. WILLIAM J. GIES PROF. HERBERT M. RICHARDS PROF. JAMES F. KEMP PROF. HENRY H. RUSBY GARDEN STAFF DR. N. L. BRITTON, Director-in-Chief (Development, Administration) DR. H. A. GLEASON, First Assistant (Administration) DR. JOHN K. SMALL, Head Curator of the Museums (Flowering Planta) DR. W. A. MURRILL, Supervisor of Public Instruction DR. P. A. RYDBERG, Curator (Flowering Plants) DR. MARSHALL A. HOWE, Curator (Flowerless Plants) DR. FRED J. SEAVER, Curator (Flowerless Plants) ROBERT S. WILLIAMS, Administrative Assistant PERCY WILSON, Associate Curator DR. FRANCIS W. PENNELL. Associate Curator GEORGE V. NASH. Head Gardener DR. A. B. STOUT, Director of the Laboratories DR. JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, Bibliographer SARAH H. HARLOW, Librarian DR. H. H. RUSBY, Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections ELIZABETH G. BRITTON, Honorary Curator of Mosses DR. ARTHUR HOLLICK, Honorary Curator of Fossil Plants DR WILLIAM J. GIES, Consulting Chemist COL. F. A. SCHILLING, Museum Custodian JOHN R. BRINLEY, Landscape Engineer WALTER S. GROESBECK, Clerk and Accountant ARTHUR J CORBETT. Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds KENNETH R. BOYNTON, Supervisor of Gardening Instruction JOURNAL OF The New York Botanical Garden VOL. XX December, 1919 No. 240 THE NEW GREENHOUSES PRESENTED BY MESSRS. DANIEL GUGGENHEIM AND MURRY GUGGENHEIM [WITH PLATES 239 AND 240] On April 19, 1917, in a report of the Endowment Committee to the Board of Managers upon the further development of the Garden,* record was made of the generous gifts by Messrs. Daniel Guggenheim and Murry Guggenheim of $50,000 each for the construction of the Central Display Greenhouse and an Orchid Greenhouse at Public Conservatory Range 2, on the eastern side of the grounds north of the Allerton Avenue en­ trance. The recent completion of these elegant and useful structures may now be recorded. Soon after the gifts of money were made, working drawings and specifications were prepared by Mr. John R. Brinley, landscape engineer, and his assistant, Louis F. Bird, and the plans having meanwhile been approved by the Municipal Art Commission, bids for the structural work were submitted to contractors for proposals; all excavation, filling and grading, as well as driveway and path approaches, interior paths, tanks and brooks, benches, and the building of a large additional coal-bunker at the power house have been accomplished by mechanics and laborers workin? under the direction of Arthur J. Corbett, superintendent of buildings and grounds, and John Finley, foreman gardener. For the contract work, bids from the following firms were accepted: •Journal 18; 121-125. 227 228 1. Masonry, concrete, drainage and water-supply: Joseph Havender, Woodlawn, New York. The contractor was required to use building stone of high quality obtained in the course of grading operations, including the removal of a large ledge of rock which stood between the building site and the Bronx Boulevard, within two hundred feet of the work. The excavations also supplied a large quantity of high-quality building sand. 2. Heating, including installation of an additional 150 horse­ power steam boiler in the power house: The Johnston Heat­ ing Company, New York. 3. Superstructures: The King Construction Company, North Tonawanda, New York. The three contracting firms worked well together; there were occasional delays in adjusting the progress of masonry and concrete to other elements of the work, but these were overcome by persuasion. More extensive delays were encountered in the delivery of building material for the superstructure caused by war conditions, and the contract time had to be repeatedly ex­ tended. The contracts were all finally completed and the work accepted in July, 1919, leaving interior grading, benching and planting to be done. During the Spring Inspection of Grounds, Building and Collec­ tions on May, 1919, members of the Garden and guests visited the new greenhouses, and bronze tablets, commemorating the gifts of the Messrs. Guggenheim were unveiled.* During the autumn months of 1919, nearly all interior work contemplated was accomplished and plants were moved into the Central Display Greenhouse during the latter part of October and the first part of November and arranged under the direction of George V. Nash, head gardner and H. W. Becker, foreman gardner. This structure was opened to the public on the after­ noon of November 8, with appropriate ceremonies, including addresses by Dr. W. Gilman Thompson, president of the Garden, by Dr. D. T. MacDougal, director of botanical research, Car­ negie Institution of Washington, and by Dr. N. L. Britton, * Journal 20: 114-115. 229 director-in-chief of the Garden. A large and beautiful display of plants and flowers was installed in cooperation with the Horticultural Society of New York, and suitable prizes awarded from the income of the William R. Sands Fund. A noteworthy feature of the Central Display Greenhouse is provision within it of space for lectures, meetings and special displays, facilities for which have long been needed. At the suggestion of President Thompson, the plans were drawn so as to provide a central space with a reinforced concrete floor over a commodious cellar, upon which audiences of about 200 persons may be comfortably seated. This was at once taken advantage of and public lectures were delivered as follows: November 15. Cycads and Sago Palms, by Dr. N. L. Britton. November 22. Tropical Orchids, by Mr. George V. Nash. November 29. Tropical Ferns and Their Relatives, by Dr. H. A. Gleason. Other series of lectures will follow. The arrangements proved wholly satisfactory and the surroundings, formed of palms, are unique and beautiful. The permanent planting of the two ends of the Central Dis­ play House will be chosen from plants of warm-temperate and subtropical regions. The collections primarily installed have been taken from House 13 of Public Conservatory Range 1, where the plants have been greatly crowded for several years; this House 13 will now be largely occupied by palms drawn from House 1, also overcrowded. The greenhouse for orchids, much smaller than the Central Display House, will provide abundant space for the orchid collection as now constituted, as well as for its increase; it is de­ sirable that this collection be increased whenever funds for the purchase of orchid plants become available. It is proposed to install the collection, now in other greenhouses, during the winter or spring. 230 THE ELM LEAF BEETLE The statement was made in 1905 that this imported insect was in all probability responsible for more ruined elm trees in the Hudson River valley than all other destructive agencies com­ bined. Certainly the same statement could be applied with equal truth to the Connecticut River valley and doubtless to many other localities where the insect has been established. It is thought that the beetle was introduced into this country about 1834, and since that time many thousands of elms have been killed by its repeated attacks. While individual insects do not fly far, the spread of the species has been comparatively rapid, and its history and destructiveness is too well known to deserve extensive discussion. A few seasons ago attention was attracted to the sudden sub­ sidence of the beetle at the New York Botanical Garden. So rare had it become that it was difficult to locate a single in­ dividual. This sudden disappearance was quite naturally attributed to local activity in the application of sprays. In­ quiry soon disclosed the fact that similar conditions had been noted in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and other parts of New York and by the writer's personal observations in the Connecticut River valley. Each locality attributed the sudden decrease or complete disappearance of the insect to its own efforts in the use of control measures. In the Connecticut valley, however, the beetle disappeared from large trees which had been badly infested and had never been sprayed, so that its disappearance could not have been due entirely to artificial control but probably to some unfavorable natural condition or the sudden appear­ ance of some natural enemy. While spending a vacation at Portland, Connecticut, in the summer of 1919, the writer noticed that the elm leaf beetle, which had been conspicuous by its absence during the four pre­ ceding years, had reappeared in such numbers that by the end of July the leaves of many trees had been completely skeletonized and were beginning to turn brown. Later in the season the trees in the New York Botanical Garden 231 were inspected and found to be still free from the insect as far as could be determined from a superficial examination from the ground.