323 



may be due to the ageing of the old trees planted many years ago 

 and now dying out not having been replaced by younger plants. 



The greater number of the prizes were taken in this section 

 by Malacca, Johore, Perak and Selangor. 



No specimens of Binjai, Langsats or mangos were shown. 



In the same shed were staged the table decorations and cut 

 flowers, the honey, and the eggs, and also the preserves. In 

 these latter there was a great improvement, chutneys, jellies, 

 preserved fruits, curry powders, pickles and sweetmeats were well 

 staged in abundance and very good were the samples. 



Flowers and Flowering Plants. 



The exhibition of horticulture was distinctly disappointing, 

 what was shown was in many cases good but when one remembers 

 the splendid exhibitions in years gone by, one cannot but feel that 

 a very great deal of the early enthusiasm for gardening in 

 Singapore has disappeared. Some of the old exhibitors whose 

 gardens were a pleasure to see have long gone from us and their 

 plants have been dispersed, others are still with us and showed what 

 they had, but we missed the great masses of Heliconias, Selagi- 

 nellas, and ferns, Marantas, Crotons and still more perhaps the 

 flowering-plants. The cause of this is perhaps the more frequent 

 home-going of the Europeans. The ordinary resident goes home and 

 auctions all his property including his plants. v He does not care 

 to furnish his house well on his return because he may go home 

 again in a few years, so he just gets a few common things to fill up 

 the verandah, and leaves their care to the kebun. 



We have unfortunately riot received any report of the exhibi- 

 tion in this class from the judges. Some good palms w~ete 

 shown, among them a very fine Martinezia erosa, shown by 

 Mr. Down, some fine clumps of Chvysalidocarpus lutescens by the 

 proprietors of the Raffles Hotel. 



A few good orchids were shown, including a fine Cattleya. 



Mr. Choa Kim Keat showed a very nice lot of succulents, the 

 dwarf cacti being remarkably good. 



Mr. Seah Liang Seah showed a number of quaint contorted 

 trees over eighty years' old. 



In many of the classes there was no second prize awarded and 

 there was no award given for coleus, six crotons, panax, 

 selaginellas, best specimen foliage plant, achimenes, amaryllis, 

 asters, balsams, three cannas, dianthus, eucharis, gloxinias, three 

 roses, zinnias, collection of flowering plants, cut asters, 

 chrysanthemums, dahlias, roses, hand bouquet, or wild flowers 

 arranged for effect. Table decorations were entered for by several 

 ladies, and Mrs. Down carried off the first prize with a neat decora- 

 tion of purple and white cosmos, very light and pretty. Mile, 

 de Gaspery was second with yellow cosmos (Klondyke) and 

 grasses, Mrs. Aptroot showed a very much more elaborate and 

 design of arches in asparagus which, though a little too large for 

 the table, was good and light in style. 



