822 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1888. 
during the Gilgit Expedition ; and a quantity of 
plants collected some years ago by Dr. G- Watt 
while he was on duty with the Commission appointed 
to settle the boundary between Munipur and Burmah. 
From Kew were also received a quantify of interesting 
specimens made by various collectors in the Malayan 
Peuinsuls, in Singapore and in Penaug. For all these 
contributions from Kew we are indebted to the good 
offices of Mr. Thiselton Dyer, its present distinguished 
Director. Dr. Kegel, of the Imperial Garden, St. 
Petersburg, presented a large numher of most inter- 
esting plants from the Russian possessions iu Central 
Asia. Three excellent named collections from Natal 
were presented by Mr. Medley Wood of the Botanic 
Garden, Durban. Prom Mexico, Mr. Priugle sent 
four hundred named speoies ; and from New Guinea 
Mr. H. O. Forbes forwarded a large box filled with 
dried plants. Of contributions received from within the 
limits of India, I have to acknowledge — from Sikkim 
a quantity of plants from Mr. G. Gammie, as also a 
collection made by a Bhotea employed by Mr. Pantling 
in the Lachen valley ; from the Khasia Hills many fine 
things chiefly trees, from Mr. Gastav Mann ; from 
the Naga Hills a fine collection made during his short 
residence there by Dr. D. Prain, now Curator of the 
Herbarium ; from the North- Western Himalaya some 
interesting plaats sent Mr. J. F. Duthie, ofSeharam- 
pore, and by Colonel H. Collett, c. b. ; from Manbhoom 
a collection made by Reverend J. Campbell ; and from 
Southern India a few most interesting plants from 
Mr. J; S. Gamble; Conservator of Forests. 
7. During the month ot November last the Her- 
barium was visited, for the purpose of study, by th'i 
Keverend Father Scortechiui, the Government Botanist 
of Perak, who had been deputed by Sir H. Low, the 
British Administrator of that State, to proceed to 
Calcutta in order to name and arrange his collection 
of Perak plants. It was Father Scortechini's inten- 
tion to have remained here for three or four months ; 
but unfortunately he died shortly after his arrival. 
During the year there was issued from the press the 
first part of a monograph of lndo- Malayan species of 
Ficus, in which I have been engaged for some time. 
8. I have to acknowledge, with thanks, the assis- 
tance freely afforded whenever asked, by the Indian 
Assistant in the Kew Herbarium, Mr. W. Botting 
Hemsley. Mr. Hemsley, with the permission of the 
Director, Mr. Thiselton Dyer, is always ready to 
settle any knotty point in nomenclature, or to check 
any doubtful identification— a kind of work that can 
only be done with accuracy in a perfectly equipped 
Herbarium like that of Kew. 
9. The interchange and distribution of plants and 
seeds has gone on actively during the year. Of plants, 
8,064 were received against 46,104 given out. Of. 
seeds, 903 packets were received and 2,534 distribut- 
ed. The names of all donors and recipients will be 
found in the appendices to this report. 
10. The Lloyd Botanic Garden at Darjeeling has 
during the year been under the charge of Mr. W. 
Kennedy. And the Blunicipality having agreed to 
continue the vegetable garden which lies wedged in be- 
tween the Botanic Garden and the grounds of the Sanit- 
arium, that garden also has been under Mr. Kennedy's 
care. At one time the Municipality threatened to con- 
vert the vegetable garden into bazar; at another they 
resolved to turn it into a washing-place for the dhobies 
of the station. Its maintenance as a sightly spot is a 
matter which concerns not only the Municipality, but 
the visitors who frequent Darjeeling and the patients 
in the Sanitarium. It is well, therefore, that both 
these proposals have for a time at least, been shelved. 
I regret to have to report that the acclimatised English 
potatoes turned out badly, the produce having been 
tasteless and waxy. This was also the experience of 
private growers. 
11. The budget allotments of both the Calcutta and 
PAfjeeling gardens were spent in full. At Calcutta 
K1.373 were realised by the sale of surplus plants, 
and at Darjeeling, from the sale of gardeu produce of 
sorts, Rl,180 were oollected as against R741 last year. 
12. In May last Mr. L. J. K. Braoe, Curator of the 
Herbarium, retired from the service of Government, 
and Surgeon D. Prain, of the Indian Medical Service, 
was appointed iu h ; s stead. Owing, bowi-ver, to the 
exigencies of military service, Dr. Praia was not 
able to join his appointment until 24th Jaumry last ; 
and during the interval the Herbarium work devolv- 
ed upon myself. Dr. Prain had on a previous 
occasion officiated for Mr. Brace, and had shown 
himself to be a highly competent man. Mr. W. Mc 
Hardy, from the Royal Garden, Kew, having been 
appointed to the post of Assistant Curator, vacated 
by promotion of Mr. H. Baur, joined on 15th June 
1886. He has worked well. Messrs. Bahr and Ken- 
nedy have also conducted their respective duties in a 
satisfactory manner. 
[The Government resolution we do not repriDt, aa 
it is merely an abridgement of Dr. King's most in- 
teresting centenary Report. — Ed] 
TEA PLANTING IN NATAL. 
(From the Natal Mercury.) 
Natal has been called in scorn, with just enough 
truth perhaps to sustain the epigram, " a country of 
samples." We produce a little sugar, a little tea, a 
little coffee, a little of everything in fact, but nothing 
in large quantities ; so say our detractors. Not till 
recently at any rate could Nataliaus meet thi some- 
what serious charge with a direct negative ; for did 
not some ugly facts stare us iu the face ? Was it not 
true that on one celebrated occasion a man-of-war 
which put in with orders to ship Natal coal, had to 
be sent empty away as far as the colonial product 
was concerned ? Natal's best defence was that her 
industries are in their infancy ; that every beginning 
is difficult, as the German innkeeper said : Natal's 
beginning doubly so, on account of the wars on her 
frontier, which, while enriching her in oue way have 
greatly impeded her in another, by taking away her 
young men, and generally disturbing the repose so 
necessary for the internal progress of every country. 
At leugth, however, a brighter day seems to have 
dawned. With some reason we may claim to have 
changed all that, for lately Natal's coal has been 
sold in Durban at two shillings and sixpence a hundred- 
weight. Natal coal is being used throughout the 
railway, and travellers from upcountry state that a 
really large transport business is going on between 
Dundee, Newcastle, and Ladysmith ; and all this points 
to a hope that in the near future talking of carrying 
coals to Natal may sound as ridicilous as carrying coals 
to Newcastle in England. Take next the cultivation 
of tea, which, according to the great authority of Mr. 
Hulett, has been proved to be an industry 
capable of a large development in this colony ; 
so far, tea has been produced of most excellent 
quality; but not in such quantities as to have much 
effect in keeping down the importation of the same. 
This year, according to Mr. Hulett, the yield may be 
estimated at 150,000 lb., something over 4 lb. a head 
of our white population. This is not a very large 
amount, inclining as we do to take a somewhat more 
hopeful prospect than Mr. Hulett of the expectations 
of the Natal Tea Company's gardens at Isipingo, whose 
Managing Director is known to be a gentleman of 
capacity and experience, acquired in another great tea- 
producing country. We cannot but hope that this 
estimate will turn out to be rather under than over 
the actual yield of Natal tea for the current year. At 
any rate, 150,000 lb. cannot be called a sample, es- 
pecially when we remember that it has grown from a 
yield of 2,000 lb. in 1881. While on the subject of 
tea, it will be interesting to examine the returns of 
another country with far greater facilities certainly 
than Natal possesses in the matter of labour as well 
as other things, but not more than five years her 
elder as a tea-producing country. We refer to Ceylon. 
In 1877 the amount of tea exported from that 
country was also some two thousand pounds; in ten 
years the amount has grown to nine million pounds, 
while there are some hundred thousand acres under 
cultivation. By a calculation based upon those figures 
the yield per acre would appear to be far greater in 
Natal than Ceylon ; but allowance must be made for 
