APPENDIX Z Z.

IMPROVEMENT AND CARE OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-WASHINGTON MONUMENT.

REPORT OF COLONEL JOHN M. WILSON, U. S. ARMY, OFFICER IN CHARGE, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1888.

1. Improvement and care of Public Buildings and Grounds in the District of Columbia.

2. Underground wires for telegraph and telephone service to connect the several Departments and Bureaus of the Government in Washington City.

3. Washington Monument.

Ꮓ Ꮓ 1.

IMPROVEMENT AND CARE OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

OFFICE OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS,

Washington, D. C., July 3, 1888.

GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations upon public buildings and grounds under the Chief of Engineers, carried on under this office during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888. In addition to these duties I have been in charge of the construction of the building for the Army Medical Museum and Library; the erection of a monument at Washington's headquarters, Newburgh, N. Y.; the erection of a monument to mark the birthplace of Washington; the improvements over the grave of Thomas Jefferson, at Monticello, Va., and since April 4, 1888, of the construction of the Washington Monument.

In accordance with the resolution of March 26, 1888, of the United States Senate, I prepared and submitted on April 9, 1888, a report presenting a comprehensive system of underground wires for telegraph and telephone service, to connect the several Departments and bureaus of the Government in Washington City.

GROUNDS SOUTH OF THE EXECUTIVE MANSION.

These grounds include those within the iron fence south of the White House, the road between the White House grounds and the Treasury Department, and the entire reservation between Fifteenth and SevenENG 88-174

teenth streets, south of the White House, the Treasury, and the State, War, and Navy Building, and north of B street.

Extensive repairs were made to the main road around the ellipse, about 600 cart-loads of gravel being used for this purpose.

The road between the Executive Mansion and the Treasury was also repaired and put in order.

A crosswalk 9 feet wide and 83 feet long, consisting of three rows of blue flagging with cobble-stone between them, was laid between the southeast gate of the Executive Mansion grounds and the sidewalk of the Treasury Department.

All gutters and drain traps were cleaned and repaired where necessary, trees and shrubs pruned, lawns mown and seeded down, and the reservation maintained in excellent condition during the season.

Early in the fall a temporary double plank foot-walk was laid between the east and west gates in the south grounds of the Executive Mansion for the convenience of foot passengers. This walk was removed in May, 1888.

During the summer months all the roadways were sprinkled daily except Sunday in order to keep down the dust.

Within the iron fence the grounds were maintained in their usual beauty; roads and paths were kept in excellent condition, lawns mown and rolled, flower beds planted, and a number of new trees and shrubs

set out.

The main sewer near the south fountain having been damaged dur ing a storm, was thoroughly repaired and the manhole rebuilt.

The fountain was repaired and cleaned out. Sixteen cart-loads of mud, the sedimentary deposit of two years, were removed from the fountain basin.

On May 1, 1888, the northwestern portion of the reservation, which for a number of years had been used as storage grounds while the construction of the State, War, and Navy Building was in progress, was transferred to the care of this department.

Work was at once commenced improving this section, so that it would correspond with the remainder of the park. Four old wooden buildings were taken down and the materials taken to the Nursery grounds for future use; about 208 loads of stone, 123 loads of old lumber, 172 loads of brick, 6 loads of old tiles, 11 loads of old iron, 100 old boxes, and a large amount of other old materials were hauled from the grounds to the property yard, where they will be made useful in future work upon the public grounds.

The entire grounds, except a small area in the southwest section, was graded, old rubbish removed, old foundations taken out, and about 3,000 cart-loads of earth and 700 cubic yards of soil purchased and used for grading and top dressing. The line of the main road was laid out preparatory to its construction after July 1.

A large amount of work was done in this section of the park. It is intended during the present season to remove the old wooden stables from the southwest corner of this portion of the reservation and to complete the improvement of this part of the park, except the neces sary planting.

MONUMENT GROUNDS, GREENHOUSES AND NURSERY.

The operations in progress around the monument, grading and filling, have prevented the accomplishment of work of any character on the principal lawns.

The main road leading from B street to the Nursery grounds was repaired and rolled, about 700 cart-loads of gravel being used for this purpose.

A new walk was constructed on the west and south sides of the main road to the Nursery grounds. This walk is 5 feet wide and about 2,100 feet long; it was well bottomed with broken stone, covered with gravel, and rolled. About 150 cubic yards of broken stone and 250 cubic yards of gravel were used in its construction.

The lawn-surface between the nursery fence and the edge of this gravel-walk was graded, top-dressed with soil, and seeded down; it was well covered with grass in the spring of 1888.

The work in connection with the monument was transferred early in April, 1888, to the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds; it is understood that the Monument Commission, under the direction of which operations have been carried on for the past ten years, has recommended that in future the work shall be in charge of the War Department and all appropriations expended under the direction of the Secretary of War. Should Congress approve this recommendation it is probable that operations will hereafter be carried on under this office.

At the close of the fiscal year the main road and foot-path were in good condition, but owing to the grading and filling around the monument and the construction of the new marble lodge-house, about 480 feet east of the monument, it has been impossible to maintain the lawns in good order.

Extensive repairs were made to the greenhouses.

The superstructure of house No. 6 was entirely rebuilt and repainted; in house No. 5, 65 feet of new wall-plate was inserted and thirty new posts erected to support the roof; houses Nos. 3, 5, 7, 10, and 11 were reglazed; 850 feet of new staging 3 feet wide, and 200 feet 4 feet wide, were erected and 340 feet of old staging repaired; about 2,000 feet of new shelving was put up for the young plants propagated for the parks. Four new water-tanks were constructed for the greenhouses and 800 linear feet of tin and copper guttering repaired.

The boilers of houses No. 6, 7, 8, and 9 were repaired. All furnaces and flues were cleaned and repaired where necessary, and 120 feet of 4-inch hot-water pipe placed in house No. 8.

In the propagating house the walk was lowered, a brick wall 97 feet long by 43 feet high built on each side, an entrance 6 feet square and 42 feet deep excavated and a door cut through on the north side. A new cold frame pit, 200 feet long by 63 feet wide and 14 feet deep was constructed.

Numerous minor repairs were made to all the greenhouses.

About 5,200 plants were placed under glass in the greenhouses for winter bloom, consisting of carnations, roses, bouvardias, sweet alyssum, begonias, mignonette, heliotrope, pansies, abutilons, geraniums, and smilax; about 1,500 pansies and violets were planted in cold frames; there were also potted and boxed for winter bloom 5,000 lilies of the valley, 6,000 by acinths, 2,000 tulips, 2,000 freesia, 1,500 liliums, 1,000 narcissus, and 200 clumps of Astilbe Japonica.

During the winter and spring months the propagation of bedding plants for the parks was continued and about 350,000 ornamental foliage and flowering plants of about forty varieties were grown, nearly all of which were set out in the parks during the months of May and June, 1858.

A large number of palms, crotons, and subtropical plants were cared for in the greenhouses during the winter and used in park decorations during the summer.

At the nursery grounds the old condemned materials, the collections of several years, were sold at public auction and the proceeds of the sale, $2,005.59, turned into the Treasury. As soon as these old materials were removed, the ground was plowed up and surface-soiled, and a portion of it planted with young trees and shrubs.

A new coal-house, 35 by 22 by 17 feet was put up and two new coalbins constructed; a new store-house for flower-pots, 18 by 16 by 12 feet was built, in which three closets were constructed and connected with the main drain by 82 feet of 6-inch terra-cotta pipe; the old blacksmithshop, which was almost ready to fall down, was removed and a new frame building, 75 by 20 by 16 feet, constructed, mostly of old materials, for use as blacksmith's shop and store-house.

The old worn-out wooden fence around the nursery was removed and an iron fence, 1,274 feet long with four gates, erected; this fence was made from portions of the iron fences removed from various reservations; 480 arbor vitæ trees were planted so as to form a hedge inside the fence.

New roads and walks were laid out and constructed, new gutters laid and improvements made to the sewerage, rendered necessary by work on the Potomac flats.

The lawns were maintained in good order, the young trees and shrubs properly cared for, gutters and drain-traps cleaned, and roads repaired and kept in order.

About 600 young trees and 800 shrubs were purchased and planted in the grounds; and about 2,400 seedling water oaks, raised at the nurseries, were set out.

About 375 deciduous and 100 evergreen trees, and 1,700 shrubs of different varieties, were lifted from the nursery grounds and planted in the various parks throughout the city.

I am frequently in receipt of requests for the loan of plants from the gardens for the use of churches, fairs, festivals, etc., and demands are constantly made for decorative and other plants for private purposes; in fact, orders are sometimes presented from members of Congress directing me to furnish plants.

I have been obliged to decline all requests for trees or plants, as either the loan or gift of them would be in violation of the following extract from the act of Congress, approved June 20, 1878:

Provided, That hereafter only such trees, shrubs, and plants shall be propagated at the greenhouses and nursery as are suitable for planting in the public reservations, to which purpose only the said productions of the greenhouses and nursery shall be applied.

In the propagation of plants there are a few flowers blooming, and it has been a pleasure to this office to extend to Senators, Representatives, and other distinguished officials, and to churches, festivals, fairs, etc., the courtesy of sending them these blooms as far as the limited quantity will admit.

The requests for flowers are numerous, and all letters received in reference thereto are filed, and a complete record kept of those to whom flowers are sent.

SMITHSONIAN GROUNDS.

Extensive improvements were made in these grounds during the

year.

The entire area around the new Medical Museum was graded, a large portion of it covered with soil, and about 2,000 square yards sodded.

A granolithic pavement covering an area of 1433 square feet, with 27 linear feet of curbing, was laid from the B street sidewalk to the steps of the Medical Museum, and a road, consisting of 2083 square yards of coal-tar distillate and asphalt pavement was constructed from the main road through the grounds to the south front of the Museum. The old shanties built sometime since by the authorities of the Smithsonian Institution, east of the National Museum, were torn down and the ground partially graded; this will be further improved during the coming fiscal year.

The main road in front of the Smithsonian Building was improved by extending the coal tar distillate and asphalt pavement, over an area of 2,765 square yards from opposite the National Museum entrance to the west end of the Smithsonian Building; it is hoped to complete the improvement of this road throngh to Twelfth street during the coming fiscal year. The asphalt footwalk north of the Medical Museum was repaired over an area of 445 square yards; nearly all the other roads leading from Seventh, Tenth, and Twelfth streets to the Museum and Smithsonian buildings, covering an area of several thousand square yards, were repaired and resurfaced; about 1,700 cubic yards of gravel were used for this purpose, 1,400 of which were removed from the bed of the road where the asphalt pavement was constructed. One new brick drain-trap was constructed, 14 feet square and 3 feet deep.

The old brick and cobble-stone gutters on each side of the new asphalt roadway were taken up and 3,170 linear feet of cobble-stone gutter, 2 feet wide, was laid.

At the junction of the gravel and asphalt roads trap-rock aprons, covering an area of 360 square feet were laid.

The lawn north of the new pavement, near the Smithsonian Building, was graded and a portion of it, covering an area of 300 square yards, was sodded.

The post-and-chain fence on the south side of the reservation was removed and used around smaller reservations throughout the city.

During the year the lawns were covered in the early spring with guano compost, and in the summer season were regularly mown from time to time and rolled.

All roads were sprinkled during the summer, all walks, gutters, and drain-traps kept clean, trees and shrubs pruned and watered, and twentyone old trees, which were no longer ornamental and which were rapidly going to decay, were removed.

A large flower-bed was laid out and planted in front of the National Museum.

HENRY (ARMORY) PARK AND SEATON PARK.

The usual work of care and protection was carried on and new improvements made as far as funds would admit.

All roads were repaired, rolled, and watered during the summer season, paths repaired, lawns mown from time to time, gutters and draintraps cleaned, and trees and shrubs pruned.

The post-and-chain fence was removed from the south side of the reservation and used around smaller parks throughout the city.

In Henry Park about 2,000 cubic yards of earth were added to the mound around the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad depot, completing the amount required for the work.

The southern section of this mound for a length of 260 feet, varying in height from 2 to 11 feet, and in width of base from 10 to 75 feet