59 



Six hundred feet of piping and 15 taps have been added to the 

 orchid-house and propagating house. Most of the old hose has been re- 

 paired on the place. The taps are also repaired by men in the garden. 

 One hundred and sixty young Ficus -trees have been propagated ; 140 of 

 them sent to the Hope Gardens, and 10 planted on the Avenue and 

 Arboretum. 



1,000 Pine-suckers have been sent away through Hope Gardens. 

 The Guinea grass pieces (12 acres) have been hoed and cleared all 

 through. 



The pastures (90 acres) have been billed all round, five yards wide 

 fired once ; all weeds and worthless young trees taken out twice. 



The Race-course and cricket ground have been billed twice. 



At His Excellency's request a piece of ground in No. 2 pasture has 

 been low billed ; and the ground levelled in places to form a drive from 

 King's House to East Lodge. 



Penguin fencing 30 chains in length has been laid down from East 

 Lodga to Devon Pen and around the propagating garden to keep out 

 pigs and goats. 



The grounds about the Bungalow, laundry and stables are billed when 

 required. A new tool house, potting shed, orchid house, and two new 

 large tanks have been fixed up by the Public Works Department. 



There is still a shed very much needed for the mules, carts, and buck- 

 eye mowing machine ; up to the present all these have to be out in all 

 weathers. 



Vine Culture. 



In the spring of this year 1,500 vine cuttings were propagated and 

 about 1,200 sent to various parts of the island, and 1,800 vine cut- 

 tings are being propagated for distribution. 



The vines imported are doing well and are making splendid growth 

 for the coming year. 



A number of canes from good kinds of vines have been presented to 

 the Department by S. L. Schloss, Esq. and the Revd. Wm. Griffith. 



The Madeira Vines presented by Dr. Grabham have made good 

 growth during the past season, 100 young vines have been raised from 

 them this year. 



A course of Demonstrations in Vine-culture has been given at 

 Collins Green, by kind permission of S. L. fechloss, Esq., as the vines 

 at East Lodge King's House were not old enough to demonstrate with. 

 The attendance was not so large as was expected, but there are 

 several people who are taking a keen interest in this culture. 



Vine culture is a craft one can hardly learn from books, whereas if 

 any one would only attend one hour a week for one season they would 

 know enough about vine culture to make them feel capable of treating 

 any vine. 



It is sad to see so many fine vines in the vicinity of Kingston left to 

 grow in a wild state. 



In the Vine Garden at East Lodge, four different kinds of arbours 

 have been fixed up, and four chains of trellis, to demonstrate the different 

 ways in which vines can be grown. 



The elevation of the garden above sea-level is 400 feet. The average 

 annual mean temperature is 78° 7 P., and the average annual rain- 

 fall 49 . 20 inches. The amount of rain that fell during the year was 



