Hibiscus trionum ; Asclepias curassavica ; Mutisia oligodon ; Gaillardia 
pulchella ; G. aristata; Verbena grandiflora; Salvia officinalis; S. sclarea; 
Platycodon manesii; Gerbera anandria. Most of these are annuals. Planting 
of permanent plants such as trees is severely limited by lack of space. 
49. In collaboration with the United Fruit Company of Boston USA 
who sent a team of specialists to Malaya to collect genetic material of bananas 
(Musa spp.) for their breeding programme on their estates in Honduras, the 
Botanic Gardens established a duplicate set of their material. This is now 
being multiplied for distribution in Singapore and Malaya, but because of 
the amount of space this stock requires at the expense of other horticultural 
material in the Gardens’ nursery it cannot be maintained after the initial 
distribution has been done. This situation clearly illustrates the way the 
useful and economic function of the Botanic Gardens is severely limited 
by shortage of space. 
50. Another introduction of commercial potential was seeds of Maca - 
damia termfolia from Hawaii, but because of lack of space only ten plants 
were established and probably eight of these will have to be thinned out 
as the trees grow larger. Some of the seeds acquired were passed on to the 
reaeration Department of Agriculture. This species produces an edible nut 
which is finding increasing use in confectionery. It was introduced into the 
Botanic Gardens in the last century but without success. The tree is very 
variable. Selected clones are cultivated in Hawaii and in tropical Queensland. 
There is no obvious reason why selected seedlings, which later could be 
cloned, should not do well in Malaya provided the selection can be done 
over a large enough population of seedlings. 
. C asua Ities during the year included: Chrysalidocarpus decipiens: 
Adomidia muellerii ; Shorea bracteolatai Elaeis guineensis ; Talauma candolle i\ 
Meloccana bctmbusoides', Actinophloeus angustifolius ; Aleurites moluccana'. 
Araucaria cunninghamii; Fagraea fragrans; Acacia magnum ; Theobroma 
cacao; Bassia madhuca. 
52. The six motor mowers gave good service and the lawns were main- 
tained in top condition except during the 26-day strike of Government daily- 
rated employees when mowing was stopped. An interesting point of natural 
history was observed during this period. Frequency of mowing is normally 
weekly. With the cessation of mowing, Eragrotis amabilis and Axonopus 
compressus which together make up most of the turf began to flower. Normally 
there is little or no grass seeding in the Gardens and grass seed eating birds 
are not often seen, but during this period it was a delight to see small flights 
of white-headed and black-headed munias working across the lawns. 
Composting 
53. Our friend, the bountiful elephant, whose productiveness has been 
commented on m previous reports (1959, paragraph 80; 1960, paragraph 73) 
regarding the preparation of compost was followed in a rather dramatic man- 
ner by the Comptroller of Customs. Notwithstanding the official status of the 
Comptroller and that the material with which he supplied the Gardens was 
above suspicion, considerable embarrassment as is recorded below was suf- 
fered both on receipt of Comptroller’s generosity and all along the line in 
processing his product, but when it was finally made it certainly had more 
than a little of the good things in it that plants like. 
54. Occasionally the Comptroller had sent small consignments of con- 
fiscated tobacco to the Gardens for composting and these had been readily 
absorbed and lost in the considerable quantity of vegetable debris which 
all the time is being processed. However, some time early in the year, without 
much warning, eight tons of tobacco, impounded by the Customs on a false 
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