9 
Gardens and Forests Department, Penang. 
Waterfall ^Botanic Garden. 
Numerous improvements to grounds, plant-sheds, &c. have been effected and no 
pains spared to make this Garden attractive to the general public. One great draw- 
back to high class cultivation of difficult subjects is the lack of intelligent labour. All 
the gardeners and coolies employed are immigrants from Southern India and it al- 
most invariably happens that by the time a- man begins to be useful, he either returns 
to his native country, or obtains employment elsewhere at a . higher rate of pay. In 
spite of this, we have established a more than local reputation for the cultivation of 
orchids and other choice plants, but this is only maintained by constant personal 
supervision and hard work. . 
2. A considerable increase in revenue from the sale of plants is shown in the 
Statement of Revenue and h'xpenditure annexed, the total amount being $>948.24, as 
against $500 in 1893. I am doubtful whether this can be maintained in 1 895, especially 
as the vote for travelling has been reduced to a point that allows of very little in the way 
of botanical collecting being undertaken for the • purpose of obtaining new and rare 
plants for sale and exchange. 
3. The usual interchange of plants and seeds has been carried on, with the re- 
sult of adding a great number of interesting plants to our collection. A list of the 
principal contributors and recipients Is given in Appendix B. 
4. Many .interesting orchids and other plants, some of them new and undescri- 
bed, flowered 'during the year, but none, I think, attracted more attention "than a plant of 
Congea tomentosa , trained against the end of the fern-shed. This plant was collect- 
ed by me two years ago, and herbarium specimens distributed under the name Spheno- 
desma sp. It is deserving of a place in every tropical garden, for as a decorative plant 
it must be classed with Bougainvillaea and Petrse volubilis , but of an entirely different 
colour to either. . It may be already in cultivation, but I do not remember seeing it. 
5. Several new beds have been formed and pBnted, and old ones re-planted from 
time to time so as to keep up, as far as possible, a show of flowering and coloured 
leaved plants. Roses, which are generally considered difficult to grow in the plains, 
have done remarkably well, but the choice of varieties suitable to this climate is limit- 
ed. Marechal Neil and Gloire de Dijon are superior to all others fhat have been tried 
so far. By grafting on a strong-growing stock found growing semi- wild in a garden 
in Penang, of which I do not know the name having never seen it in flower, greater 
success has been obtained than by using Rosa gigantea, the one generally used in 
India. During the dry season, from November to March, Dianthus made a grand 
display and deserve to be more generally grown than at present. Flowering plants 
are much less generally grown in Penang than foliage plants. 
6. The principal orchid-shed, .which was in a bad state of repair, has been re- 
constructed with hardwood timber. This shed is 58x40 teet. One of the sheds in 
the, nursery, 50 x 18 feet, has been renewed with 3" and 4" iron supports and old boiler 
tubes from the sugar estates, and this is, I hope, the beginning of a new era in plant- 
shed construction. In this climate iron is not only the most suitable, but in the end 
the cheapest material, but the initial expense has hitherto prevented its use in this 
Garden. A portion of the material necessary for renewing another shed in. 1895 has 
been purchased and paid for out of 1894 vote. 
7. A new pond for the cultivation of the Victoria Regia lily in a more con- 
spicuous place than that in which it was formerly grown, has been made by throwing 
a stone-work dam across the hollow a few yards above the Office on the opposite side 
of the road, i his was finished, and three young* self-sown plants from the old 'pond 
planted in June, and by the 1st September, they completely covered the whole area. 
The depth of water is from 3 to 4 feet, and the material in which they were planted 
leaf-mould and cow manure, a cart-load of which has been added every two months. 
8. For the cultivation of annuals, and other flowering plants requiring sun, a 
raised octagonal bed of rough' stone-work has been made opposite No. 1 plant-shed 
and been kept bright with a succession of flowering plants during the whole year. 
Want of full exposure to direct sunlight is the principal cause of failure in growing 
the majority of flowering plants, especially annuals. 
9. This year has seen the completion of the Reservoir at the top of the Garden, 
and lias enabled us to complete the formation and metalling of the new road to it, as 
well as re-metalling the road over which all material for constructing the Reservoir 
