Economic Garden. 
Through the hrst part of the year, the food-crop demonstration by the 
Riding track, which was described in the last report, demanded a considerable 
amount of Mr, Mathieu’s attention; but gradually its agricultural crops 
were abandoned for horticultural crops. As the cropping changed the area 
was marked out into plots each of i/io of an acre; and the same was done 
upon the hill-top: this gives a far more business-like arrangement than 
existed before. The plots on the hill-top were kept in food crops inter- 
planted with fruit trees, because the cultivation for the food-crops was of 
benefit to the young fruit trees. $ 
The right to tap the rubber trees was let for the first' half-year for $800 
per mensem; but the tappers who were paid by the lessee on results grew 
very apt to over-tap. The same was the case with the tappers of the lessee 
who followed for one month only; and after that the amount offered for 
the rights was not worth accepting against the trouble of seeing that the 
tappers did not damage the trees. In 1919 a fibre-yielding race “altissitna” 
of the Rozelle had been brought into the Gardens where it grew well. Fibre 
in 1920 was made from it by Mr. Mathieu in the way that jute is prepared; 
and was pronounced at the Imperial Institute, London, equal to the first marks 
of jute. It is desirable now to know if a yield so much greater than that of jute 
can be got as will enable it to be produced by labour far more expensive than 
the labour which produces jute. The isolated 23-vear old Brazil nut tree 
continues to flower yearly but has not produced fruit vet, as the pair of 
30-year old trees have been doing for a number of years. Is it a consequence 
of isolation? The 20-year old Caryocar trees have produced imperfect 
fruits for a second time. It is hoped that they will soon produce fertile seeds. 
Swartsia pinnata flowered and fruited. 
Of economic plants 665 were sent out and 162 packets of seed. These 
included nearly 6,000 seeds of the African Oil Palm. 
Labour . — Over the first five months of the year upon an average 65 
men, women or boys were employed daily in the Economic Garden. The 
record of the distribution of labour for those months is missing. Over the 
remaining seven months, when the average number of men could not be 
raised above 35, labour was put to different kinds of w r ork as follows: — 
digging, weeding and planting 12.87 per diem; for keeping the grass slopes 
tidy 8.19; on plants in pots, 2.03: on tree-cutting and pruning 0.86; on 
sweeping 3.50: on roads 2.6 t ; on ditching J.02; in burying opium-refuse, 
1.99; on miscellaneous work, 1.40. 
The deep burying of the opium-refuse is costing too much, and other 
methods of using it are being tested. 
Waterfall Gardens, Penang. 
As^in Singapore, so in Penang there has been a great increase in the 
amount of motor traffic in the Gardens. This entails an increase of labour 
upon the roads; and taking the year as a whole two additional men have been 
required in the Waterfall Gardens for that service. Tt has been decided to 
attempt an economy by asphalting the lower roads. To make traffic safer, the 
gate has been widened to almost 40 feet. 
A weir was built upon the stream just above the Central Bridge to control 
the current; and another weir is planned to hold up still water under the 
bridge. 
The metal work of the plant houses was repainted by the Gardens’ labour, 
and re-roofing done. At the same time tiles were laid upon the southern bench 
of house No. 9. 
To increase the colour in the Gardens, beds were made round the trees 
lining the Lower South Road and in the hollow of the upper part of the 
Gardens; but wild pigs damaged the latter. To keep the shrubberies tidier, 
three rubbish pits were made upon the outskirts of the Gardens and all other 
dumps of leaves destroyed. The vegetation in the Swimming Bath gully 
