EOYAL BOTANIC aARDEN8. 
EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR FOR 1901. 
1. — General. 
The organization of tlie Department upon modern lines has contimiecl, and is becoming fairly 
complete in the case of two of the three main subdivisions which are proposed, the Scientific and the 
Botanic and Horticultural Gardens Divisions. The third, or Division of Experimental Gardens, is as 
yet only under consideration, but it is hoped that it may soon be organized. The Scientific Division, 
which includes the Director, Mycologist, Entomologist, Chemist, and Assistant, is charged with the 
scientific investigation of the flora of Ceylon, both indigenous and introduced, with special reference to 
the economic uses of the plants and the diseases that attack them. The work of this division includes 
the upkeep and working of the laboratories, library, herbarium, and museum, tours in the Island for the 
study of plants, cultivations, and diseases, the giving of advice and assistance in all such matters to 
officials and cultivators, personally and by letter, and, most impoi'tant of all, the continual carj-ying on 
of researches iipon the physiology and pathology of plants, their structure, distribution, and other 
subjects. Successful practical applications of science must be based upon thorough scientific investi- 
gations ; such work is laborious and needs long periods of time, and it is of the greatest importance that 
the scientific officers should have the greater portion of their time at their disposal for such work. 
The appointments of the Entomologist and Mycologist in particular have met with much appreciation, 
and their help is so constantly sought that a very great pai-t of their time is taken up with personal 
visits, interviews, and correspondence. In the past year a great amount of work has been carried out 
by these officers, whose reports are given below, and the result of their work is becoming clearly 
apparent in the greater freedom from disease of many districts and estates. The Colony has on the 
whole been free from any very serious epidemics of disease during the year, and the agricultural public 
has become much more alive to the advantage of keeping a sharp look out for the first appearance of 
disease and of immediate treatment thereof. 
The Director and Chemist have completed an investigation into camphor and have published 
results, showing a fair possibility of this product proving remunerative as a cultivation in Ceylon, It 
i is already being tried on several estates, and if it prove successful will add another to the few minor 
products that are as yet cultivated in the tea districts. Investigations of citronella oil, indiarubber, and 
other products have been continued. The good results of similar work in past years are now becoming- 
apparent in the increasing export of, and the high prices obtained for, indiarubber and coca, both 
originally introduced by this Department, and which may now be looked upon as new minor industries 
im, Ceylon, 
The Assistant has continued his researches into the mode of formation of ebony, calamander, 
and similar timbers, and into the important pi*oblem of the formation of rings in tropical timbers. 
He has also explored the guttapercha-yielding districts of the south-west, and investigated our local 
gutta-producing trees. Some of these have been found to yield a gutta in fair quantity by simple 
tapping, without its being necessary to sacrifice the tree. The gutta is not of good quality, ))ut it is not 
improbable that it may prove commercially valuable. 
The Director has completed the investigation of the flora of the Maldive Islands, including the 
icultivated plants. The results have been published in the new scientific journal, the "Annals of the 
