10. Among the more striking plants that flowered in this garden during the 
year ( of which an abbreviated list is given in Appendix C ) was a giant plant of 
Grammatopkyllu m speciosum, which bore about one thousand flowers. T his plant 
was photographed by local photographers both amateur and professional. Another 
was Aristolochia gigcts var. Sturtevantii, with enormous flowers over twenty inches 
across. This plant was, by the kindness of the Kew anthorities, carefully packed and 
sent on board the steamer the morning I left London for Penang, and, although a 
rather weak plant, reached here alive. It is now nearly always in flower, and several 
plants have been propagated from the original, some of which have already flowered 
in the other Settlements. It is a truly remarkable plant, its great drawback being 
its abominable smell, 
11. Some new beds have been made near the office and planted with annuals, 
flowering shrubs, &c., and also a circular clump of palms that had outgrown their 
tubs. Many trees of various kinds, principally indigenous, such as Sty rax sernUata , 
Pentace Curtisii, &c., have been planted in various parts of the grounds. Cannas 
have, as in 1892, the first year the finer hybrid forms were introduced, been a strik- 
ing feature. Messrs. JAS. VEITCH & Sons kindly presented a set of a dozen varie- 
ties of the best new ones that have been distributed since 1890. Several new hybrids 
have also been raised in the garden here from crosses made by myself, one of which 
is superior to any of those received from England, and by the permission of His Ex- 
cellency Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, the late Governor, bears his name. 
12. A new shed for ferns and begonias has been erected, mainly with material 
that had been used for the Agricultural and Horticultural Show, and the plants have 
made excellent progress since being placed in it. It will, however, like all soft wood 
structures in this climate, last only a comparatively short time. 
The octagonal plant shed, which contains many of the more valuable plants in 
the garden, has been entirely renewed with well seasoned chengal timber and berta?n 
chick roof for shade, so that it will not require any further attention for at least three 
years. 
13. Two new water tanks have been built, one for ferns and the other for 
orchids, and connected with the water supply from the swimming bath, so that now 
there is scarcely a botanical garden in the Tropics so well provided with water, which, 
in a country subject to spells of dry weather of from two to three months’ duration, 
is a most important matter. 
14. Re-metalling of the main road leading to the reservoir was done in the 
months of January and February, with material supplied by the - Municipal Commis- 
sio.ners, when we were under the impression that all heavy cartage in connection 
with the new reservoir was finished, but as that proved to be an error, and it is not 
finished yet, this ‘will have to be done over again when the leak in the i^servoir has 
been stopped. The expense of this will not, however, I hope, fall on the gardens but 
on the Commissioners. Until the work at the reservoir is finished, a great portion of 
the garden cannot be kept in decent order. 
15. Unusually heavy rains in June did much damage to roads and paths, and 
caused some considerable slips along the river banks, which necessitated re-sloping 
and turfing. 
White ants having proved very troublesome in the office, especially on account 
of their depredations among herbarium specimens. The whole surface below the arches 
was cemented, and there has since been no trouble. This was done by the Public 
Works Department, but all the other works by the garden coolies. 
16. The total expenditure in connection with this garden amounts to $4,499.52, 
and the revenue derived from sale of plants and use of Swimming Bath to $568.50, as 
shown in Appendix A annexed. 
Government Hill Gardens. 
# 
17. Work in the Experimental Nursery has been principally confined to keeping 
the ground clean and manuring the fruit trees. The orange trees obtained from 
Malta* by the late Sir J. Dickson produced a few fruits of fairly good quality, but 
the prospect of a paying crop is not promising. The expenses of carrying up 
manure is too great to allow of the cultivation of many things that could otherwise be 
profitably cultivated in this nursery. 
