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The soil round many palms and trees on the lawn has been trenched 

 and manured. 



All the bends and borders have been well forked and manured, a 

 large number of old shrubs have been dug out and young shrubs 

 planted in their place. Some of the borders have had all the plants 

 dug out, the land trenched and manured and young plants planted 

 in the place of the old ones. One bed has been planted with Crotons 

 and Hibiscus ; these plants are very effective at the present time. 



Most of the shrubs in the other borders have been transplanted. 



The old worn out Crotons in the border to the north of the 

 palmetum have been dug out, the land has been trenched, levelled, 

 raked and planted out with Bahama grass, also a few palms and shrubs. 

 Bright foliage plants have been planted about the tanks. 



The pruning of trees and shrubs has been continued and has made 

 a great improvement to the plants and the gardens generally. The 

 trees had been planted much too close, and in places they had formed 

 quite a block of vegetation, but by judicious thinning, several new 

 vistas have been formed and the trees and shrubs are looking all the 

 better for the extra light they are getting. 



All the plants in the old rose garden have been taken up, the land 

 trenched two feet deep, manured and planted with rose plants. These 

 plants are now making good growth. 



I have replanted two borders with rose plants. The roses have been 

 planted in rows, one kind in a row. I have also planted roses on the 

 economic side of the garden Up to the present it has been a hard 

 matter at Castleton to get rosewood for propagating. With the large 

 number of roses planted out this year we should have plenty of rose- 

 wood for propagating purposes. 



There is not a very large variety of roses at these gardens, and more 

 varieties are very much needed. 



The old nursery was not only too small for the 30,000 plants of all 

 kinds that we have to keep in stock, but it was too shady, and the 

 ground too much on the slope, so that it was impossible to water the 

 plants properly. 



It was also very expensive to keep re-arranging the plants after 

 heavy rains. To alter all this an acre of land was cleared and levelled 

 on the economic side of the garden, and 600 ft. of 1 in. piping, 12 taps 

 and 12 tanks were laid down so that the watering can be done easily. 

 The new nursery is all that can be wished for, the land level, plenty of 

 light and air, a fair amount of sun so as to make the plants hardy, plenty 

 of room between each bed, and every facility for watering, potting, seed- 

 beds, etc. 



All the plants in bamboo pots have been removed to the new nursery, 

 a new potting shed 30 ft. by 12 ft. has been erected so that we can now 

 turn out 100,000 plants a year if wanted. 



Up to the present the plants in the nursery have been put down any- 

 where, without any arrangement whatever. Now most of the plants are 

 arranged alphabetically, and there is a place for every kind of plant we 

 ought to have in stock. 



The old nursery ground is being kept solely for plants in earthen 

 pots, orchids, ferns and plants established, economic plants, vanilla, 



