or 



Jl .sianqerraen manivoo 90J ni enaal nsewsa noriierrnoo T^imo^ u .^grrrtmrfmr en at 

 Rainfall for eighteen months from 1st October, 1889, to the 31st March, 1891. 



Month. 



October 



November 



December 



January 



February 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 



December 



January 



February 



March 



1889 



1890 



1891 



Rainfall. 



7.05 

 0.84 

 0.88 



53 

 57 

 58 

 10 

 28 



0.90 

 0.89 

 5.80 

 6.87 



20 

 18 



0.83 

 2.10 

 1.14 

 0.00 



47.74 



loj Dooaj ei no'iw 

 No. of Days 



on which Rain fell. 



14 



,■4 



4 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 5 

 7 

 2 

 2 

 7 

 15 

 10 

 10 

 5 

 6 

 4 

 



123 



lodi 



Castlbton Garden. 



Mr. E. Campbell was temporarily transferred from King's House Garden to take charge of Castle- 

 ton in place of Mr. Thompson. He has carried on the" work of the Garden to my satisfaction. 



The usual routine of garden work has been proceeded with, and some improvements have been 

 effected. 



The garden has attracted a large number of visitors. During 18 months 896 names have been 

 entered in the Visitor's Book, or on an average 50 a month. Those who come- from abroad, and more 

 especially those from temperate regions, are very much struck with the beauty of the garden, and the 

 interesting character of the plants growing in it. Mr. Morris, who was here in February, said that he 

 had not seen as pretty a garden since he left Jamaica. Mr. Win. Saunders, Superintendent of Gardens, 

 Agricultural Department, Washington, when he heard that it had been in contemplation a few years 

 ago to give up the garden, remarked that to do so would be like burning down a picture gallery. But 

 those also who live in Jamaica, and are accustomed to tropical vegetation, appreciate the pleasure and 

 profit to be derived from a visit. The drive from Kingston, though a long one, is full of interest, 

 first through the Liguanea plains, then up Stony Hill, past settlers' groves of cocoa, coffee, and 

 bananas with a sprinkling of oranges, akees, sugar cane, annatto and yams ; down into the Wag Water 

 with broad alluvial stretches covered with tobacco, cultivated by Cubans ; along the winding river 

 fringed with clumps of graceful bamboo plumes, and its banks hidden by masses of creepers; past the 

 rocks by the roadside covered with ferns and mosses, the scarlet " dazzle" and the blue " forget-me- 

 not" of Jamaica ; until Castleton is reached where art shows nature at its best by world wide selection 

 and harmonious combination. 



One of the most superbly beautiful of trees, the Amherstia nobilis, was in magnificent flower this 

 year ; and was worth crosssing the globe to see. Though covered with its long pendent bunches of 

 Vermillion and yellow flowers, it only yielded a few seeds. It is a native of the Malay Peninsula, and 

 naturally prefers a moist climate. One of the Iron Woods of India, Mesua ferrea, also attracts atten- 

 tion from the red colour of the young drooping foliage, and the large fragrant white flowers. It has 

 not yet ripened seed. The Mangosteen, Garcinia Mangostana, the fruit of which in its native country 

 is said to be the most delicious in the world, yielded a small crop for the first time this year. It 

 requires a damp and hot atmosphere and probably the eastern end of the island would be the most 

 suitable situation in which to cultivate it. The Traveller's Tree of Madagascar (Ravenala madagas- 

 cariensisj is the noblest form of that, essentially tropical family — the Banana order (Musacece). The 

 leaf-stalks contain water, a merciful provision for the thirsty traveller. The leaves are perhaps the 

 largest known. The Souari or Butter Nut (Caryocar nuciferum) produced fruit; as also the Norfolk 

 Island Pine (Araucaria excelsa) and Samadera indica. The two large Araucarias in the garden, A. 

 excelsa from Norfolk Island, and A. Cunning hamii from Australia are very fine and well grown speci- 

 mens about 80 feet high. Araucaria Bidwilli, the Bunya-bunya Pine of Australia, and A. imbrieata, 

 the Monkey Puzzle, from Southern Chili, are still small. The genus Araucaria which occurs only in 

 S. America and Australia, is an example of a geographical distribution of certain plants which is inter- 



