( -i ■) 
Visitors. — The names signed in the Visitors' Book at the Lodge during the year amount to 
2,046, nearly all being those of travellers from other countries. No record is kept of visits by 
Ceylon residents. On the Gth January the Gardens were visited by Grand-Duke Franz Ferdinand 
d'Este, heir to the Crown of Austria-Hungary, who was pleased to plant an Asoka tree (Saraca 
indica) as a memorial of the occasion. 
I prepared a new (the 4th) edition of my little " Hand-Guide " at the end of the year, and it 
was published on 1st January, 1894. It is somewhat fuller than previous ones, contains a new 
plan (prepared by the Surveyor-General) and an index to the more interesting plants mentioned. 
Cattle Trespass. — During the whole of my residence here the Gardens have been defaced 
and damaged by the cattle of my neighbours. It is the immemorial custom of the country for 
every one to possess himself of a few miserable half-wild and useless bullocks, regardless of 
whether or not he be able to afford to keep them. If he cannot do so he turns them out on the 
road or elsewhere and trusts to their picking up a living for themselves, which is i)robably at hin 
neighbours' expense. These active little creatures wander widely and cannot easily be caught ; 
they do damage not only in what they eat, but by breaking down and trampling. The injury to 
newly-planted trees in the Gardens from this cause has been very great. I have fought against this 
nuisance for years, but without much effect, as the existing laws and public opinion appear to be 
against any really efficacious measures. I am advised that I must fence the grounds, i3Ut I find 
that in this community no ordinary live fence is any protection : anything tliat is not actually 
impenetrable is useless ; as an indication of private property it possesses no force or significance. 
The nuisance is a general one in the East, and other Botanic Gardens have been forced to 
protect themselves. The Calcutta Gardens have a high brick wall along the whole roadside, whilst 
Buitenzorg is protected partly by a high iron deer-fence and along the high road by five strands of 
barbed wire. It is my intention to take some effectual measures shortly, as the nuisance has 
become intolerable. 
Hakgala Garden. 
The works mentioned in my last report as needed in this Garden have all been either 
carried out during the year, or will be done with special votes in 1894. Several improvements to 
the Superintendent's house have been effected, adding to its comfort as a residence; and the 
Foreman's quarters have been repaired. 
With the small sum granted for the erection of a shed for sheltering the horseB and carriages 
of visitors, ten pillars of cemented brickwork were erected and timber sawn for the roof ; work had 
then to be stopped for want of funds, but an additional sum has now been granted with which a 
corrugated iron j'oof will be provided and the building, which is 36 ft. by 16 ft., finished off'. 
In April and May the Public "Works Department took in hand the reservoir ; the leaks have 
been at last successfully stopped, and it is now in satisfactory working order. A special vote has 
been sanctioned to enable us to carry water from this reservoir to various parts of the Garden by 
means of zinc spouting communicating with small tanks in various places: this work has been 
commenced, and will be pushed on to completion as rapidly as possible. 
The removal of a row of old Gasuarina trees hasgreatly improved the appearance of the entrance 
to the Garden ; and the upper and lower ponds have been rendered pretty ornaments to the grounds 
by being thoroughly cleaned out, their margins evenly sloped, and the overflows properly arranged. 
In my last report I made some remarks on the inadequate supply of manure : this want is 
now more pressing owing to the loss of that formerly obtained from the Badulla coach-houses, I 
therefore support the suggestion made by Mr. Nock (see report for 1891, p. 5) that a few breeding 
cows be purchased and kept in the Garden for the sake of their manure. 
I think that the time has now arrived for making an accurate survey and plan of such part 
(about 26 acres) of the Hakgala Reserve as is occupied by the Botanic Garden. Such a plan woiild 
be of much use to me and to the Superintendent in carrying out works of improvement, as well as 
to the public. 
From Mr. Nock's full report for the year I make the following extensive extracts. They show that 
he is continually endeavouring to develop the Garden, which yearly increases in interest and beauty : — 
Animal and Insect Eneiuies. — The black grub of the little brown moth, Agrntin suffusa, was very destructive at 
the beginning of the year. I find that dressing the surface of the soil with fresh unslaked coral-lime is a capital 
remedy. " Elk " (Sambur deer) were very plentiful in the middle of the year, and made frequent visits to the 
Upper portion of the Garden, doing considerable damage to the young shrubs, particularly Fuchsia arhorescens and 
Ilabrothannius eJerja.ns, and to a liliaceous plant, A.rthro2)odiuin cirrhatum. The most destructive animal this year 
has been the little mouse-deer, which is not content with what it can eat, but nibbles off the shoots of young plants, 
and leaves them in heaps on the ground. Some of these have been caught in the neighbourhood of the G-arden. A 
leopard, which had been destroying cattle in this locality, was poisoned, and was found two days later in the jungle 
at the south-east of the Garden land. 
