©eREPORT.^ 



Natal Botanic Gardens, 



Berea, July, 1901. 



To the President and Committee, 



Durban Botanic Society. 

 Gentlemen, — 



It having been decided that for the future my Annual 

 Report shall cover the period between the 30th of June in the 

 one year to the same date in the next, I have now the pleasure 

 to hand you my 2 n th Report on the work at the Gardens and 

 Herbarium, which includes this time, six months only. At the 

 close of the year 1900, in consequence of the prolonged drought, 

 the prospect appeared to be a rather gloomy one, but soon after 

 the commencement of the year it became considerably brighter, 

 the rainfall for January being 5.93 inches, the greatest fall in 

 any month of the previous year having been 4.52 inches in 

 October ; and it will be seen by the Abstract kindly supplied 

 from the Observatory that we also had good rains in February 

 and March, the total rainfall for the six months being 30.02 

 inches, which is greater by 2.7 inches than the whole rainfall 

 for 1900. 



In consequence of this very favourable season the trees in 

 the Gardens are looking well, and most of them have now re- 

 covered from the effects of the long drought, still, in addition 

 to the losses mentioned in my last Report, the following have 

 succumbed : — 



Bauhinia, sp. Phoenix pygmaea. Cocos plumosa. 



Hakea, sp. Pinus, spp. (2) Pinus insignis. 



Madura aurantiaca " Osage Orange." Oreodoxa regia. 



In the short time that has elapsed since the publication of 

 my last Report, but little has been done in the way of improve- 

 ment or alteration in the Gardens, other necessary work having 

 absorbed most of the time of the hands, and native labour is 

 not obtainable in sufficient numbers to enable us to commence 



