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8 
5- J he most noticeable addition during the year is a new iron plant shed close 
to the entrance gate. The material for this has been accumulated bit by bit during 
the past three or lour years, and now put together without the aid of skilled labour 
or any additional grant of money. 
Willi the exception of new “ Chicks ’ for the roof, about every two years, this 
shed will not inv olve any expense in repairs for many years. It is filled with a choice 
selection of ornamental foliage and flowering plants, mostly large specimens. There 
is a water tank in the centre for the cultivation of small aquatic plants. 
6. The large iron plant shed has been re-covered with chicks as has also the 
Orchid House, and a portion of the Fernery. A new hand-rail has been fixed to one 
ot the bridges at the top of the garden, the approach to this bridge improved, and 
sundry repairs to roads, & c. effected. 
7 - Some new beds have been formed, many of the old ones replanted, and 
numerous new trees and shrubs added to the collection. Twenty Kickxia elastica 
and one hundred Palaquium gutta plants have been planted in and near the 
i larden in order that visitors may be able to see these plants without making a long 
journey to the more extensive plantation at Batu Feringgi, which is some miles distant. 
8. I he show of flowering plants, especially Annuals and Orchids, has been kept 
going fairly well during the greater part of the year, and the two leading features of 
the Orchids have been Habenaria ca-rnea and Calanthes, of which great numbers are 
grown. At one time there were upwards of two hundred plants oi Calanthe vestita 
in flower, and Calanthe veratrifolia is seldom out of flower. Calanthe rubens from 
Bangka wi comes in later and is now in flower. Although not so showy as vestita it 
is a charming little species. Saccolabiums and Aerides, planted on the rain trees on 
either side ol the entrance drive, flowered profusely in May owing to these trees hav- 
ing cast their leaves during the long spell of drought, conditions not always attainable 
here. Gardenias too were a sheet of white during the month of May. 
g. Drawings of many new and interesting plants which flowered in the Garden 
were made during the year, and a bundle of over a hundred, done in previous years, 
was sent to the Royal Gardens Kevv for inspection. Many of these were copied before 
being returned. 
10. Considerable additions of Penang plants have been made to the herbarium, 
and much more might* have been done had I not been absent in Malacca and Johore, 
on-duty in connection with gutta percha, during a portion of the best flowering season 
for forest trees that we have had for years. There is however some compensation in 
the collections made in these two places, and during a trip to Indragiri in Sumatra 
during the early part of the year. 
11. Many strangers interested in Botany or other branches of Natural History 
have called during the year. Two of these, Mr. SCHI.ECHTER on behalf of the 
German Government, and Dr. Sherman on account of the American, w r ere specially 
intent on studying both the natural and cultivated vegetable products of this region 
with a view to introducing any new plant of commercial value, the one to German 
New Guinea, and the other to the Phillipines ; more especially gutta percha produc- 
ing trees. 
12. Plants and seeds have been exchanged to about the same extent and with 
practically the same Public Gardens, Nurserymen, and private individuals as last year, 
and plants sold locally to the value of *1585.50, being a slight increase on 1900. 
13. More room for herbarium specimens, and a more extensive library are two 
things much needed in connection with this Garden. 
Government Hill Bungalow Gardens. 
14. Beyondjkeeping the grounds in a neat and presentable condition, and main- 
taining a small but regular supply of vegetables all the year round, nothing is attempted 
in this Garden. Sufficient pot plants are grown to decorate the' corridor and rooms 
when the Bungalow is occupied, and this is about all that can be done under existing 
circumstances. Water and manure, the two essentials to high class gardening, are 
neither of them available in the same manner as in the Waterfall .Garden. During 
the long drought of last year there was barely enough water for domestic purposes, 
and that had to be carried such a long distance that it would require a small army of 
coolies to keep a large collection of pot plants going. A cart load of manure costing 
sixty cents at the foot of the hill costs more than ten times that amount at the 
Garden. The climate however is, apart from the heavy rainfall during certain 
months, such that, with an adequate supply of water and manure, many plants that 
simply live down below' luxuriate here. When the hill railway is constructed and 
pumpiftg machinery for supplying the whole of the Bungalow's is complete this can be 
made the most attractive spot in the w'hole Colony. 
