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This land is low lying, and during exceptionally wet weather is 
Nature of land, liable to be flooded, owing to the overflowing of the 
river ; but I do not anticipate any damage from 
floods, which will only occur at long intervals and will be of short 
duration, and would probably be entirely avoided if the river was 
to be cleared of fallen trees, etc., a work which the Public Works 
Department have in hand. The soil is of a very heavy nature but 
will disintegrate on exposure to rain and sun. About 4 acres of 
this land was entirely cleared of stumps and dug over about a foot 
deep preparatory to laying out the nursery beds. This was a 
somewhat slow and expensive work, but was rendered necessary 
as a protection against crickets, which live at the base of the 
stumps and do a considerable amount of damage to young seed- 
lings. 
The present site has a road frontage of about a quarter of a mile 
Road frontage. which will be extended from time to time and is 
fenced the entire length with a bamboo hedge, 
bambusa rmna, having been used for the purpose. 
4. Six acres of the enlarged nursery site have been planted 
Catch crops. with Hevea brasiliensis, 24 feet apart, with the in- 
tention of growing and experimenting on suitable 
catch crops, while the rubber trees themselves will come in useful 
for experimental purposes later on. Among other things which it 
is intended to try as catch crops are ramie and other fibres, chilies 
ginger, Indian corn, arrowroot, ipecacuhana, earth nuts, carda- 
moms, linseed, etc. All these and man/ others give a quick return- 
and would not be influenced by the small amount of shade formed 
by the rubber trees during the first two to three years of their 
existence. 
5. A small piece of land adjoining the Government road has 
Kickxia elastica. been planted with Kickxia elastica, the Lagos silk 
rubber. The seeds were introduced direct from 
Lagos, this being the first introduction of this plant to these parts 
and distributed among the Botanical Gardens and planters of the 
Straits Settlements, as I had nowhere to plant them at the time. 
The plants referred to above were re-introduced from the Penan^ 
Botanical Gardens and had been growing in small bamboo pots for 
some time and their growth was consequently somewhat stunted. 
During the very dry season which followed they made a very free 
growth, but commenced to show signs of ill-health during the 
exceptionally wet weather of the last three months of the year, 
and were then attacked by caterpillars, which entirely defoliated 
them. The trees, however, survived this attack, and I am of 
opinion that they will suceeed here and probably become a valu- 
able acquisition, but it is essential that they should be planted on 
well-drained ground. 
6. About 35 plants of this coffee have been planted among the 
Coffee— coffea kickxia and an equal number are at present in the 
nursery and will be planted on hill land when the 
