REPORT 



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Botanic GtAEDEns, 

 Berea, Dukban, January, 1897. 



To the President and Committee, 



Durban Botanic Society. 

 Gentlemen, — 



I have the pleasure to hand you herewith my fifteenth 

 Annual Report on the work of the Botanic Gardens, It is 

 gratifying to be able to state that during the past year, we 

 have been quite free from damage from flood, frost, or drought, 

 and though the locusts paid us several short visits, no material 

 damage was done. The rainfall for the year as supplied by the 

 kindness of the Government Astronomer has been 39"63 inches, 

 being 8'7 inches less than in 1895 ; the season has nevertheless 

 been a fairly good one, and the plants in the Gardens have 

 made very satisfactory growth. In consequence of the opening 

 of the railway to Johannesburg, the business of the Gardens 

 lias been very much increased, and large numbers of plants 

 have been sent away, entailing a considerable amount of extra 

 woi'k, both to the gardeners and myself, and it has only been 

 by the energy and ability of the staff that we have been able to 

 keep pace with the work ; as a matter of course the Garden 

 has been somewhat neglected, and I represented to the commit- 

 tee that more assistance was urgently necessary, I therefore 

 with the consent of the committee advertised in the local 

 papers for a gardener, and though I had numerous applications, 

 1 was unable to select one from the number that was likely to 

 be quite suitable for the work. I tried three for a short time 

 each, but none of them were what we required, that is skilled 

 propagators. I therefore wrote to the Director of Kew 

 Gardens asking him to select and send out a suitable man for 

 us, which he has very kindly done, and we expect the new man 

 to arrive here early in January. The time of the gardeners has 

 been so much taken up with attending to the large number of 

 visitors that we have had during the year, that very few r plants 

 have been put out into the Gardens, though we have a large 

 number in pots and tins> which ought to have been put out 



