A major call on the gang’s time was an extensive tree pruning and lopping 
exercise carried out along Cluny Road and Tyersall Avenue where there was 
a danger of timber falling in the roadway. Though the area outside the 
Gardens is not strictly the Gardens’ responsibility, it was agreed with the 
Chief Parks Officer that, for expediency, the Gardens should do this work. 
37. Species and cultivar collections were added to by exchange and 
by field collecting, particularly the orchid and fern collections. The completion 
of the second orchid nursery, the extension to the Fern House and repairs 
to the introduction section of the Aroid House gave relief to the accommo- 
dation of new acquisitions. It is unhappily necessary to record serious 
damage to the Cactus and Succulents Collection by monkeys. Their depreda- 
tions also extended to the destruction of aroids planted along the edge of 
Maranta Avenue. The thick growth of Dieffenbachia at this site which is of 
little attraction was thinned out for the planting of a display of other aroids, 
but all these were uprooted, leaving only untouched the Dieffenbachia which 
is highly poisonous. 
38. The long-tailed macaque monkeys ( Macaca fascicularis = M. irus ) 
remained the most serious and destructive pest. Six were shot. Several permits 
were issued during the year to persons wishing to trap them, but no one had 
any success. Any consistently high standard of horticulture is impossible in 
the presence of these vermin and their complete elimination is desirable. 
39. The cannas on either side of Main Gate Road were replanted and 
manured. Additional angle iron supports were put up for the bougainvilleas 
on Lawns B and E, there being plants of Golden Glow, Killie Campbell, 
Mary Palmer, Mrs. Maclean, cypheri, Wellington, Maharajah of Mysore, 
Calcutta, Brilliant, glabra dark form. Formosa and Jubilee added to the 
collection on Lawn B. Beds of various colours of Lantana camara were 
planted on Band Stand Hill, and new beds of Polianthes, Paneratum zey- 
lanicum , Zephyranthes and Cooperanthes were made on Lawn O near the 
Plant House steps. 
40. Several trees in the Gardens had to be removed, the largest being 
an enormous “tembusu” ( Fagraea fragrans ) on Lawn T which had a girth 
of 30 ft. at breast height. This tree which was struck by lightning 3 years 
previously was showing progressive die-back and decay. The tree was 
estimated to be about 80-90 years old. 
41. The following new plantings have been done: Ficus irregularis, 
L. 26; Pongamia pinnata, L32, L34, L35; Cinnamomum cassia, D178; Pinus 
caribae, D246; Pinus merkusii, D140; Pinus insularis D42, D107; D701; 
Diospyros discolor , D185; Cassia torra, L42B; Cassia corymbosa var. 
plurijuga, L42A; Catena loddigesii, K 6; Byrsonima crassifolia, C39; Araucaria 
hunsterii, H62; Cassia spectabilis, H61; Jasminum odoratissimum, H63; 
Thevetia peruviana, A47; Hyophorbe verochaffetii, K31; Licuala grandis. 
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