IO 
cutting tool than an ordinary Chisel can also be devised for the work. At the begin- 
ning the milk comes slowly and at no time continues running for long. With two 
exceptions the cuts were renewed between 7 and 8 A. M. and the tins brought in at 
1 1 A M ; but the flow had always ceased before that time. The two exceptions were 
when the operation was performed in the evening, but as there is always a danger of 
rain during the night, and a very slight shower causes water to flow into the tins as 
nearly all the water trickling down the stem of the tree falls into the oblique cuts 
and is thence led directly to the tins the work is best done in this climate in the 
morning. Generally the latex had coagulated by the following morning, that is after 
standing about twenty hours, but on two occasions only partially so. In these cases, 
and also when rain water had got in the tins, a pinch of powdered alum was added 
which caused perfect coagulation in a short time. If the addition of alum does not 
affect the value of the rubber (and on this point I hope to be able to report later as 
samples have been sent to the Director of the Royal Gardens Kevv with a view to 
ascertaining this) it facilitates working operations in wet weather, for a little water 
getting mixed with the latex does not matter provided the vessels do not overflow. 
All the rubber can be recovered by the addition of alum. 
On the morning the incisions were first made only £ oz : of wet rubber was 
obtained, but by taking a thin shaving off the lower surface of the oblique cuts on 
fourteen subsequent occasions the following quantities was obtained at each opera- 
tion in ounces:— I, if, 3^ 3*. 6, 9, 6i 8|, 6, 6$, 10, 8$, 8. Total 5 tfe i£ oz of 
wet rubber which weighed when dry exactly 3th. As will be seen from this the last 
three tappings gave a better result than any previous three and operations were only 
suspended as it was not advisable to make the cuts any wider. The time occupied 
in affixing the tins and renewing the cuts averaged half-an-hour on each occasion, 
or seven-and-a-half hours in all. It may therefore be taken that a man at say 30 cts. 
per day could attend to at least fifteen trees per day and that the cost of collecting 
will not exceed 10 cents, per tb. With larger trees and better appliances it will be 
probably much less. I have lately visited Bertam Estate in Province Wellesley 
where Mr. D. Logan planted about 2,000 young trees nine months ago and the 
growth is very satisfactory. From planters in Selangor I hear that the prospect is 
most encouraging the trees making very rapid growth. It is evident however that 
the land selected should be sufficiently drained to prevent the young plants being 
submerged for in one spot where this has happened at Bertam many have died, and 
those that are alive do not look nearly so well as others on slightly higher land. 
14. Six plants of Castilloa elastica, kindly contributed by Mr. Gerald Watson 
of Selangor, were planted on the 1st October and at the end of December had made 
shoots 1-2 ft. long. Previous to this there was no plant of this in the garden and it 
is too soon to form an opinion as to its suitability for cultivation here. 
15. Seedling sugar canes, raised here, which were distributed last year, do not 
in the opinion of the planters promise to be of exceptional merit. A further dis- 
tribution has been made this year, two cart loads going to Batu Kawan, of which we 
have not as yet received any report. I had hoped that some of the best seedlings 
growing in the Nursery would have flowered this season so that seeds of a second 
generation could be tried but not one has done so. 
16. Of interesting new plants that flowered during the year Boea paniculata, 
Ridl deserves the first place on account of the long time it continues to bloom. 
The flow T ers are of a good size about if x i£ in. of a pleasing mauve-blue colour, borne 
on a panicle 3 ft. high. The first flower opened on the 26th June and it has been in 
continuous flower ever since and has at the present time (7th January' 99) twenty 
open flowers and about forty buds. Individual flowers last 5-6 days and for three 
months the daily number of fully expanded flowers was from forty to fifty. On the 
19th October before commencing to gather seed 1,160 capsules, open flowers, and buds 
were counted, but no account was kept after. This plant, the only one that has yet 
flowered out of a dozen, I found growing abundantly on the face of a limestone cliff, 
but in places difficult of access, in the Kinta District of Perak in 1894. I think it 
does not flower until at least four or five years old and that after doing so it dies. 
17. Didymocarpus cyanea, Ridl ; mss- of which a large batch from seeds have 
been flowering freely and attracting the attention of visitors is a new species from 
iKasoom, a place in Siamese territory about two hundred miles North of Penang. It 
s one of the most easily grown and striking of the genus. Several other new species 
of this order have flowered during the year, of which drawings have been made, among 
them two new Didissandras from Perak. 
18. Among Orchids some novelties have been flowered as well as a great num- 
ber of better known kinds from various tropical countries. Of those collected locally 
