105 
The Gardens which have existed longest are the BoU»fc^rdens 
of Singapore, 32 years, and the next oldest are the Penang Gardens 
now abolished. The remainder from about four to eight yeais. 
This is certainly unique in the history of the Gardens of the 
Empire and indeed of the foreigen nations, too and rep ^ S “^ f 
a great amount of hard work by energetic men, and a great dea 
money thrown away. 
To compare this with other gardens ; that of Peradeniya Ceylon 
was founded in 1821 and has gone on without a b ? ab ^ ’ 
is for 80 years. That of Buitenzorg was founded in 1819 and has r 
continuously. The Botanic Gardens at Calcutta were founded ,n 
X Trinidad about 1827, Sydney 1788. These Gardens have all run 
continuously on the same ground ever since they " ere . "^rs 
There has been none of the making and ab f ,shl " g . a h f ‘% a ra ^ W s ^ t T e . 
in the manner which seems to have characterised the Straits betue 
merits It may be taken that it requires at least 20 ^ years with a 
suitable staff and sufficient funds to make a practical and well-stocked 
Botanic Gardens and the longer it lasts and the more continuous its 
existence in a well found condition, the greater its value, rhe uncer- 
tainty of continuity naturally prevents the Botanist 111 charge fro 
carrying out satisfactorily researches on slow-growing trees or any of 
that most important series of investigations which require ma i Y 
years of continuous experiment and observation for then solution. 
But this must be obvious to every thinking person. 
The story, which is as historically accurate as the author has been 
able to make it, will, he thinks, be read with astonishment and 
interest by many agriculturists and botanists. It is a i so ? 
enthusiasm, energy and hard work of men who devoted themselves 
heart and soul to the progress of agriculture and built “P Gardens for 
this purpose which were destroyed ruthlessly after the en usi 
gone, with the inevitable result of delay of progress, failure of agncul- 
ture and catastrophe. — E d. 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
Peliosanthes violacea var Clarkei. 
This plant is figured in the Botanical Magazine for 1909, plate 
8276, from a specimen sent to Kew from the Botanic Gardens, ^ ga " 
pore. There are said to be four varieties of the species ; two of these 
from India have green flowers, and I would suggest are distinct 
specifically the typical form violacea has a deep violet perianth, the 
variety Clarkei, which ranges from the Khasiya hills in Assam to 
Singapore has dark purple flowers, almost black indeed. I here 15 
a little if any other difference in the rest of the plant from the true 
violacea of Wallich. The figure of the plant in the Botanical Maga- 
zine is somewhat less deep and rich in colour than it is in the wild 
