If actually put into execution before the latter was finally planned, it would involve some path-building and other minor changes in the valley which would have to be regarded as temporary and subject to modification. For that reason and because they are otherwise so closely related to the vicinity of the Museum we did not include this group of entrance improvements with the others listed in [Part III]. But if the Managers, in view of the urgency of other matters and the large cost of any radical improvement in the vicinity of the Museum, should see fit to postpone decision as to the latter for a long time it might be worth while to consider the improvement of this entrance independently thereof.
IN CONCLUSION
The purpose of this Report is in part to point out needs and opportunities for bettering the grounds of the New York Botanical Garden, in part to set before the Managers, some of the rather complicated and far-reaching considerations which ought constantly to be kept in view whenever a decision affecting any part of the grounds confronts them, in order that they may make each decision wisely for the Garden as a whole and avoid snap-judgments.
It is not in itself a program, but it may become a useful basis for a program to be adopted by the Managers, definite as to the near future and tentative as to the more distant future.
It is not at all in the nature of a set of plans and specifications for all or any of the modifications suggested. So far as any of the suggestions it contains may be embodied into a program by the Managers, the first step in the physical execution of any part of that program should be the preparation of plans and specifications so thorough and detailed that the Managers, with the aid of their various technical advisors, can assure themselves in advance exactly what is proposed to be done, just how it is to be done, how it will affect other parts of the program, and what it involves financially and administratively both in first execution and in proper maintenance. The Managers and the Director-in-Chief of the Botanical Garden are in a wholly different situation in such matters from the owner of a private estate, whose purposes may be admirably served if, with a fairly consistent and intelligent idea of the kind of place he wants, he authorizes a succession of improvements in general terms and leaves the details of execution of each, within reasonable limits of cost, to be settled as the work proceeds by designers and executives in whom he has confidence, without requiring complete plans and specifications in advance. The difference is not merely that the Managers have a fiduciary obligation to take fewer chances than a man may reasonably do with his own property, but also that the purposes to be served are far more complicated and enduring and proposals need to be scrutinized in detail from more diverse technical points of view before final commitments are made.
Respectfully submitted,
(Signed) Olmsted Brothers
APPENDIX A
A record of actual cases giving comparative figures of maintenance labor and maintenance costs. Referred to on pages [7 to 9] of the Report.
We have classified this record in accordance with the three classes of maintenance given on [page 8] of the Report.
It should be stated that these figures are only approximate, because in some, and perhaps most, cases it was not possible to eliminate all the factors that should have been eliminated or to include all the factors that should have been included. However, they are close enough to serve as a basis for discussion and estimating. Labor is figured on the basis of $4.00 for an 8-hour day, 288 days in a year. The reason for not stating where the various areas referred to are located is that some people preferred not to have their data openly published; although none of them, probably, would object to having them passed around privately.