2 
Mr. GOODFELLOW kindly conveying them there. All arrived safely except the white 
Porcupine, which succumbed in the Red Sea. 
The cages were for the greater part pulled down, and some of the ironwork sold. 
A great deal of the iron and woodwork was found to be completely rotten, and it would 
have entailed a considerable expense to have renewed it. 
The remaining black swan was found dead by the lake one morning, and there is 
reason to believe it was killed by a dog belonging to a visitor. 
Buildings and Upkeep. 
The Aroid-house was practically re-built, the woodwork replaced by brick pillars 
and T iron, and roofed with chicks laid over wire netting. The glass-house has been 
completed and has proved very satisfactory for cultivating plants which require a 
dryer air than in the open sheds The large mud-drain round the band-stajid, which 
was unnecessarily broad and very unsightly, was narrowed and bricked all round, 
adding an extra width of two feet to the road all round ; the total length of this drain is 
200 yards. The Rhopaloblaste avenue road had become very rough and worn : and the 
mud side-drain was bricked for 77 yards. The path was raised a foot for 247 yards and 
regravelled, and the edges returfed. The old deep open drain running from the band- 
stand across the grassplot was filled in and a drain of 6-inch earthen pipes run for the 
length of 1 10 yards and a terminal portion of brick drain of 21 yards long with three 
cemented catchpits at various points. The Sabal avenue from the rockery to the 
canna ground was re-formed and re-gravelled for 90 yards, and an open drain of 
60 yards was bricked on one side. The path leading from the terminus of this avenue 
to the band-stand was re-dressed, re-gravelled, and the drains on both sides re-bricked 
for a length of 90 yards, and one cemented catchpit was made. The Red-stemmed 
palm avenue had an unsightly and too deep mud-drain running for 98 yards. This 
was partly filled in and a brick drain laid, the edges being returfed. Two catchpits 
were also built at the upper end, and connected by twelve 6-inch earthen pipes so as 
to drain oh from the band-stand a considerable quantity of water during rain. The 
road by the old well was improved by bricking the open drain for a distance of 
37 yards and re-made the drain beneath the path with 6-inch pipes, and two cemented 
catchpits. 
The mud drain round the aviary hill along the main drive from the big white 
Champaca tree to the new Herbarium was filled in and bricked for a length of 170 
yards. A twenty-four foot culvert was made under the main road between the plant 
house and the office. Some of the trees surrounding the old well being found to be in a 
dangerous state, were removed and the wall of the well, much broken by the roots, \y as 
repaired. 
The very dry weather from May to November occasioned as in last year a great 
expenditure in cart hire for conveying water from the lake to the plant houses, includ- 
ing the cost of coolies loading and unloading the water. It is estimated that this item 
cost no less than $1,000. As these spells of dry weather seem to be becoming more 
constant every year, it is hoped that a proper water supply may be laid on from the 
lake to supply the Gardens, and do away with this heavy expenditure. 
A fine series of water-lilies was established in pots which were sunk in the lake, 
at first in shallow water and as they grew larger transferred to baskets and moved to 
deeper water, all round the edge of the lake. They flowered well and formed quite an 
attraction especially in the early morning when they were at their best. Nymphea 
Stella ta, Devoniensis and O' -Mar ana were particularly fine. More plants of the 
Victoria regia were also planted and soon flowered. 
A number of Gladioli, obtained from Messrs. SANDERS, were planted out in abed 
and flowered very well. It is seldom that these plants are seen in Singapore. 
In the large plant house, the ferns were re-arranged, and a number of local species 
added. The collection of Adiantums is now a fairly good one and contains some very 
fine species. The other ferns were arranged according to groups. 
Professer Engler of Berlin, the greatest authority on Aroids, during his stay 
in Singapore, identified many of these plants of which the names had been lost. 
New or Noteworthy Plants. 
The following were among the most interesting of the plants which flowered here 
for the first time : — 
Malayan : — Cryptocoryne pontederiee folia . — (Job ore). 
M onophyllaea Horsfieldi. — (Perak). 
