tank for germinating aquatics was made and has proved very useful. The new 
seedling sheds were built, which proved very useful. The glass houses have been most 
successful, a number of plants, and notably succulents and gloxinias, are now 
cultivated with ease _and in considerable numbers, a thing impossible before. 
Beds and Borders. 
The borders along the long border road were entirely renewed, re-trenched,, 
manured and replanted with foliage and flowering plants, and have proved one of the 
great attractions of the Garden. The borders of the road leading from the terraces to 
the plant sheds was also entirely remade, and a rockery of coral made on each side, 
which was planted with small foliage plants, many of them rare and beautiful plants 
from Borneo and the Peninsula. This rockery border has been very much admired. 
The ginger border leading from the plant-house to the sheds was re-dug and entirely 
replanted, as were the Tyersall border and the bromeliad beds. The border between 
the main road and the old cement tank was replanted to hide the tank from the road. 
This tank is used now as a manure pit. A new border was made between the sloping 
lawn and the nurseries and makes a bright feature in this part of the Gardens. 
Many of the larger beds were re-trenched and manured and re-planted, and all the 
palms and specimen plants were manured. Over 200 palms were planted in the 
palm valley. The collection of palms now is probably one of the largest in number 
of species of any garden in the world. 
A large piece of secondary scrub below the Assistant Curator’s house was cleared 
and turfed. 
Plant-Houses. 
The flower house was kept bright throughout the year, and was very attractive. 
Flowers in this part of the world last for a very much shorter period than they do at 
home, and this entails a great deal more work in keeping the house bright than 
would be the case in an English hot-house, as constant renewal is necessary. 
A superb exhibition of Burmese dendrobiums which was on view from January to 
February attracted many visitors, whose attention was called to it by mention of it in 
the local papers. The adiantums also were highly admired, and an article on the 
cultivation of these plants published in the “Bulletin” stimulated the demand for 
these ferns. 
A small collection of mamillarias and other succulents, mostly presented, was 
also a source of interest. 
Deaths from Lightning. 
Three valuable trees were killed by lightning during the year, the storms being 
unusually severe. One of these was the fine Skorea leprosula near the band-stand. 
This tree was 150 feet tall and 10 feet 3 inches girth at 4 feet from the ground, and 
w r as one of the show plants of the Gardens. It was connected with an adjoining 
Terminalia subspat hid ata by a liana of Spatholobus. '1 he portion of this connecting the 
two trees was killed as well. The Terminalia though touched by the lightning was 
unhurt. The Shorea slowly died apparently from shock and was felled some months 
later. Shortly after this the best durian tree in the Gardens, near the stables, was 
killed instantaneously by a flash of lightning. This tree used to produce as many as 
30 durians a day during the season. 
The fine Sindora wallichiana on the lawn by the lake was found to be quite 
dead towards the close of the year and though it bore no lightning marks, no other 
cause of death could be suggested. 
New Ornamental Plants. 
The collection of maidenhair ferns was increased, and large stocks kept up to 
meet the demand. Six new hybrids were obtained this year and named, respectively. 
Beauty of Singapore, Bidadari, Tang l in, Mrs. Napier, Standard, and Shamrock. 
The adiantums are raised from spores by sprinkling the spores on the coral tables on 
which the pot plants are grown; the spores germinate, and in the prothallus stage 
occasionally become cross fertilized, and hybrids are thus produced ; of the new 
hybrids the Beauty of Singapore is perhaps the finest and has been much admired. 
Standard and Shamrock , the latter with three-lobed leaflets, are quaint and 
commendable. 
A paper on the cultivation of ferns especially adiantums was published in the 
<< Bulletin ” and was in much demand by cultivators of these popular plants. 
