478 FETCH : 



VII. — Singapore. 



The Singapore Botanic Gardens were established by an 

 Agri-Horticultural Society which was formed in the j^ear 1860. 

 In 1874, as the Society was no longer able to carry on the 

 Gardens according to the original intention, they were handed 

 over to the Government, and H. J. Murton was appointed 

 Superintendent.^ 



Murton received some Hevea plants from Kew in 1876. 

 Two cases were sent, probably 100 plants, but nearly all the 

 plants died owing to excessive delay in clearing the consign- 

 ment. In 1877 Kew sent 22 more plants, most of which 

 (apparently) survived. From this stock Murton took 9 plants 

 to Perak in 1877. 



In 1878 Murton wrote : " Following the advice given by 

 Mr. Cross, in his report to the India Office, I replanted the 

 Hev^eas in the low ground of the Economic Garden, where 

 they have not grown so freely as before." 



In 1879 Murton stated that propagation of the Hevea and 

 Castilloa was then rather difficult, whereas they were formerly 

 propagated freely from the weak wood produced while in pots. 

 The latter remark was evidently intended to refer to the propa- 

 gation at Kew, for the Singapore plants were apparently planted 

 out in 1877. Confirmation of this interpretation is afforded by 

 the report for 1881, in which Cantley wrote that Hevea had 



baffled all attempts to strike bj^ cuttings. It is the more 

 remarkable that precisely the same manner and treatment was 

 observed as piacti.sed so successfully at Kew." 



At the request of Kew, Murton forwarded plants of Hevea, 

 Castilloa, and Ceara to Queensland in 1878. Frojn the 

 recorded experience with cuttings it would seem probable 

 that the Hevea were part of the original stock. 



The total number of plants (Hevea) retained at Singapore 

 could scarcely have been more than a dozen. Ridley, writing 

 in 190;i, referred to nine old trees,^ and Vernet in his account 

 of Singa]H)re in 1911 gives the number of survivois of the 

 original stock as six.^ 



' W. P'ox : "(Jiiidc to tho IJotanic Gardens, Singapore," 1889. 



" Strait9l3.illciin.il.. p. 1. 



' " Annalos dos I'JantcurH do Caoutchouc de I'lndochinc," 1 911 , p. GOO. 



