215 
This  land  is  low  lying,  and  during  exceptionally  wet  weather  is 
Nature  of  land  liable  to  be  flooded,  owing  to  the  overflowing  of  the 
river ; but  I do  not  anticipate  any  damage  from 
floods,  which  will  only  occur  at  long  intervals  and  will  be  of  short 
duration,  and  would  probably  be  entirely  avoided  if  the  river  was 
to  be  cleared  of  fallen  trees,  etc.,  a work  which  the  Public  Works 
Department  have  in  hand.  The  soil  is  of  a very  heavy  nature  but 
will  disintegrate  on  exposure  to  rain  and  sun.  About  4 acres  of 
this  land  was  entirely  cleared  of  stumps  and  dug  over  about  a foot 
deep  preparatory  to  laying  out  the  nursery  beds.  This  was  a 
somewhat  slow  and  expensive  work,  but  was  rendered  necessary 
as  a protection  against  crickets,  which  live  at  the  base  of  the 
stumps  and  do  a considerable  amount  of  damage  to  young  seed- 
lings. 
The  present  site  has  a road  frontage  of  about  a quarter  of  a mile 
Ro-id  frontage  which  will  be  extended  from  time  to  time  and  is 
fenced  the  entire  length  with  a bamboo  hedge, 
haynhnsa  nana,  having  been  used  for  the  purpose. 
4.  Six  acres  of  ‘ the  enlarged  nursery  site  have  been  planted 
Catch  crops  • with  Hevea  brasiliensis,  24  feet  apart,  with  the  in- 
tention of  growing  and  experimenting  on  suitable 
catch  crops,  while  the  rubber  trees  themselves  will  come  in  useful 
for  experimental  purposes  later  on.  Among  other  things  which  it 
is  intended  to  try  as  catch  crops  are  ramie  and  other  fibres,  chilies 
ginger,  Indian  corn,  arrowroot,  ipecacuhana,  earth  nuts,  carda- 
moms, linseed,  etc.  All  these  and  many  others  give  a quick  return 
and  would  not  be  influenced  by  the  small  amount  of  shade  formed 
by  the  rubber  trees  during  the  first  two  to  three  years  of  their 
existence. 
5.  xA  small  piece  of  land  adjoining  the  Government  road  has 
Kickxia  elastica  been  planted  with  Kickxia  elastica,  the  Lagos  silk 
rubber.  The  seeds  were  introduced  direct  from 
Lagos,  this  being  the  first  introduction  of  this  plant  to  these  parts 
and  distributed  among  the  Botanical  Gardens  and  planters  of  the 
Straits  Settlements,  as  1 had  nowhere  to  plant  them  at  the  time. 
The  plants  referred  to  above  were  re-introduced  from  the  Penang 
Botanical  Gardens  and  had  been  growing  in  small  bamboo  pots  for 
some  time  and  their  growth  was  consequently  somewhat  stunted. 
During  the  very  dry  season  which  followed  they  made  a very  free 
growth,  but  commenced  to  show'  signs  of  ill-health  during  .the 
exceptionally  wet  weather  of  the  last  three  months  of  the  year, 
and  were  then  attacked  by  caterpillars,  which  entirely  defoliated 
them.  The  trees,  however,  survived  this  attack,  and  1 am  of 
opinion  that  they  w'ill  suceeed  here  and  probably  become  a valu- 
able acquisition,  but  it  is  essential  that  they  should  be  planted  on 
w'ell-drained  ground. 
6.  About  35  jflants  of  this  coffee  have  been  planted  among  the 
Coffee— coffea  kickxia  and  an  equal  number  are  at  }:>resent  in  the 
robiista.  nursery  and  wall  be  planted  on  hill  land  w’hen  the 
