7 
* 
Rubber Seeds and Plants. 
The demand for seeds from the old trees of tl)e Gardens still maintained its height, 
and there was no difficulty in selling all that were procurable, 271,000 seeds were sold 
from the garden and 102,300 were purchased, from outside! The price of the garden 
seed, viz., ten dollars a thousand, was maintained, although seed from estates was 
selling at a much lower figure. The chief recipients of the seed were : the 
Governments of Papua, British Guiana, British Honduras, Dominica, and Sierra Leone, 
the Liberian Corporation, Mabira Forest Rubber Company, Kelantan, and Singapore 
plantations. Of para rubber seedlings 20,500 were also sold locally. 
The collecting of the seed, packing, export and all the business connected with 
this trade is naturally a great strain on the staff, and much ordinary work had to be 
put aside for it. However, it is only by such sales that the gardens can be kept up at 
all. The whole rubber ground had to be mown twice during the year employing the 
whole time of most of the men for a long period, and seed collectors and' packers 
were employed for a considerable period every month. The floods were more frequent 
this year than formerly for some unexplained reason, entailing more maintenance of 
paths and drains and more constant weeding in the rubber ground. 
General. 
The balance at the end of the year appears to be a large one, but it must be 
remembered that the gardens are to a large extent maintained by sales and that the 
money thus received does not come in till towards the end of the year. It is therefore 
essential to have a balance sufficient to maintain the Gardens in the first half of the 
year. The Government grant for upkeep, $8,000, pays only for the minimum, 
amount of labour required to keep the Gardens in a respectable condition, all 
improvements, tools, stores, etc., have to be paid for by sales. The revenue thus 
obtained is received from sales of para rubber seeds, crude rubber made during 
experiments, and a little from sales of oranamental plants, etc. The rubber seed 
has hitherto been sold at ten dollars a thousand, and to the present date there have 
been sufficiently large orders to take all the seed we have. Plantation seed, however, 
is so abundant and for sale at so low a price, that we could not maintain the high price 
of the garden seed -were it not for the great reputation it has got. The sale of para 
rubber seed at any price which would pay is not likely to continue much longer and 
perhaps in a year may cease to be a source of revenue to the Gardens. Sales of other 
economic and ornamental plants bring in a revenue which is practically negligible, and 
is also very unreliable. In past years it has fallen as low as three hundred dollars in 
the year. 
The only thing left is the sale of crude rubber to make up a deficit of at least 
four thousand dollars a year on the most economical lines. This source of revenue it 
might be suggested might be increased by concentrating the work of the staff on the 
ground as a rubber plantation. But this would be very unadvisable. The competition 
of a Government gardens with outside plantations has long been shown to be 
eventually a disastrous failure in every case. The staff instead of doing its legitimate 
work in aiding by experiment and propagation the agriculture of the country, would 
be employed as planters only, for it would be impossible to carry on both works at the 
same time and the trees now valuable for experiments would probably deteriorate and 
in any case be spoilt for research work. 
At the present time the Department is making as much revenue as can be made 
by its sales of rubber seed in order to be prepared at a later date to continue its work 
by what may be called a reserve fund when the sales fall off. This is the reason for 
so large a balance at the end of 1909. 
BOTANIC GARDENS, SINGAPORE, REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE FOR 
THE YEAR 1909, 
' Revenue. 
$ c. 
By balance in bank on 1st January 
... ... 1,4.75 61 
Government Grant ... 
... ... 7,950 00 
By sale of Seeds and Plants 
— 4,303 55 
By sale of prepared Rubber 
... 3,843 48 
Bank Interest 
**• 35 9^ 
* 
Total ...$17,608 56 
