5 
Summary. 
Considering that the Staff was this year reduced by the Director’s absence for 
TLTLerTf t0 Mr - FOX as3is ' ed b - y the Clerk j- S. ISAAC -the amount 
of work executed was very great. The Gardens were kept in good order and many 
improvements made the export of seeds and plants and correspondence exceptionally 
u a con^derable amount of experimental research carried on, and the 
Agricultural Bulletin published monthly, all this work could not have been effected 
but by great energy and industry on the part of the Assistant and of the Clerk. 
H. N. RIDLEY, 
Director of Gardens , Straits Settlements , 
Annual Report on the Botanic Gardens, Penang, 1907. 
Staff. 
■ Th Gf arde ? S W o e in c W e , of the Collector of Land Revenue with the 
assistance of Mohamed Haniff, Garden Overseer, up to March 26th, when Mr Fox 
(Superintendent returned from leave. Mr. Fox only remained up to April '2 A 
when he proceeded to Singapore to act for the Director of Gardens, and was replaced 
on the following day by the writer, Assistant Superintendent, Botanic Gardens 
Singapore, who remained m charge of the Gardens for the remainder of the year. 
Mohamed Haniff was on leave for three months from the 17th June, this being 
hts hrst leave after 18 years service. & 
The check roll shows much broken time, due to Fever and acute Diarrhoea but 
equally or possibly more to slight feverish symptoms which disincline a cooly to turn 
out without the incentive of mustering on the spot, and this is unavoidable as the lines 
have been placed one mile distant from the Gardens with the object of obtaining good 
sanitation. * J & s u 
The Year's Work. 
\ 2 ; P? s P ite the fr changes a large programme of work has been carried out an 
important item of which was the increased maintenance and renewal of stock coLT 
quent on large sales ot palms and general decorative plants. This will be better 
understood il I say that the revenue collected by sales amounted to Si 1 1 1 24 which 
constitutes a record in the revenue return of these gardens. The highest retu ns 
previously recorded were $974 in 1897, and $1,014 in 1894. ° 
3. Inadequate accommodation has always been the drawback to the maintenance 
and renewal of stock but on the representation of Mr. Fox an acre of land has been 
purchased at the Garden entrance and this difficulty will disappear. It will now 
be possible to maintain small lots ot iruit trees and other useful economic plants In 
this direction the most notable additions include Palaquium oblmgifolium or 'ktah 
taban, raised from seeds obtained within the Garden, and although only ihree trees fruited 
the crop was exceptionally heavy; and although 3,670 seeds sold to the Conservator of 
Forests, and 500 seeds 10 the Government of Mauritius, a hatch of I t so seedlina, 
was reserved lor the Gardens. Hevea braziliensis practically failed as a seed-cro , 4700 
seeds were sold and 250 seedlings raised. Other additions include 200 nutmegs iooHiir 
ians, and a few mangosteens. Of other economics of which specimens only were’ received' 
the following may be cited -West Indian Bread-nut (. Artoearpus nuciferd), Australian 
odder grass (Paspa/um dilatatum), ten species of Bow string Hemp SansevUra 
(spec.es , Boolean Lemon (Citrus sp) Eugenia uniflora, Eugenia braziliensis, Anona 
reticulata, Pstdtum guava (Trinidad), and some good varieties of bananas and 
pineapples. 
Free Issues. 
4 Trees and shrubs were supplied f ree to the Supreme Court grounds, District 
Hospital, Government Quarters and Residency; the latter also received a miscellaneous 
selection of pot plants. A small lot of seeds was given to the Pulau Tikus College 
/ 
