393 



Department remains in abeyance except what may occasion- 

 ally have to be done by the other scientific officers. 



Changes in Staff. 



Mr. T. W. Main, the Superintendent, Government Gar- 

 dens, Taiping, who had done excellent work in Perak, was 

 transferred to Singapore as Assistant Curator of Gardens, 

 and his place was filled by the appointment of Mr. F. E. 

 Long- from the Kew staff. Mr. Long has already done good 

 work both on the Hill and in the Taiping Gardens. He is 

 now engaged in laying out ornamental gardens for the town 

 of Ipoh, which promise from their situation on the banks 

 of the river in the centre of the town to add considerably 

 to the amenities of the mining capital. 



Mr. G. S. Hope was appointed Assistant Inspector of 

 Coconuts and stationed at Kuala Kangsar, being in charge 

 of the coconut preservation work in Perak. 



Experiment Station. 



The work of the Experiment Station is detailed in the 

 report by Mr. J. W. Campbell, the Superintendent, Experi- 

 ment Plantations. Some little time must elapse before any 

 conclusive data in various experiments are obtained, but 

 considering the short space of time since the land was 

 felled, cleared and laid out for experiments the progress 

 is very creditable. The land is all much poorer than jungle 

 land taken up by planters for rubber and other cultivations, 

 and to some extent this may detract from the results ob- 

 tained, but the fact of its being at the same place as the 

 laboratories, library and officers, make it easy for the tech- 

 nical officers to control and observe the details of the 

 various experiments, and this is a great advantage. The 

 nurseries, in which many plants of economic interest are to 

 be seen, as well as the larger areas of more important 

 plants, have been visited frequently by planters and others; 

 the various leguminous and other plants which are suitable 

 for "cover plants" cause much interest. These plants arc 

 barefiilly observed, their habit, and rate of growth, and it 

 is highly probable that one or other of them will be found 

 more suitable than any of those at present in use for cover- 

 ing and protecting the land in rubber and other cultivations. 



Statistics in Agriculture. 



The collection and compilation of the agricultural sta- 

 tistics of the Malayan Peninsula becomes yearly a more 



