[ 9 ] 
14. Tlie selection made number two hundred and sixty in all, 
chiefly economics, and includes many American and West African species 
difficult, if not impossible, to obtain otherwise at Singapore. 
15. This work took some time, as I had to go over the houses one by 
one, and consider the likely merits of each plant as I went on. 
16. Plants of a rare, and chiefly ornamental nature, which are not 
kept iu stock at Kew for exchange, I chose from the nurseries of Messrs. 
Bull & Veitch, where I found many of a very ornamental and interest- 
ing character well worth securing, and the purchase of which has been 
already approved of by Government. 
17. Before quitting tlie Gardens at Kew, I bad the pleasure of look- 
ing over the fine Economic Museums which have greatly helped to raise 
the Gardens’ to their present fame, and which are universally acknow- 
ledged to he the finest of the kind in the world. To these I gave special 
attention, going over the cabinets in detail. 
18. The inspection of these occupied me nearly two mouths, and 
to one who took less interest in the science of which these Museums 
are intended to illustrate the practical application might well think it a 
rather tedious process, but I felt the opportunity might not soon again 
present itself. 
19. The collections in these Museums are really grand, and I con- 
fess I learned a great deal during the time I spent in them, but in this 
direction I had the advantage over most visitors in having the ready 
explanation and advice of the obliging Curator, Mr. Jackson, a. l. s., at 
command, and with whom I went fully into the construction of the cabi- 
nets, the methods of mounting, curing, preserving, distilling, and setting 
up specimens, and the general working of the place. 
20. When in charge in the Mauritius, the Government readily 
granted, on my representation, a suitable building for a Museum of such 
botanical objects as cannot be preserved iu an Herbarium, such as large 
fleshy fruits and many other objects too numerous to mention, and I hope 
the time is not far distant when the Botanical Gardens of Singapore will 
also possess a Museum of this kind, without which they must remain 
shorn of a great and important part of their utility; but this subject will 
be better treated iu a separate document. 
21. Having left Kew, the British Museum and Zoological Gardens 
next claimed my attention. In the former 1 was able to obtain the names 
of the birds in the Garden Aviaries here, and in the latter I learned 
something in the construction of aviaries and their protection from rats 
and vermin, I was surprised to find, however, that the mortality among 
the birds there is nearly, if not quite, as great as at Singapore, especially 
among the pheasants, which appear difficult to keep in a confined state 
anywhere. 
22. I need hardly allude here to the selection of tools I made choice 
of for the Gardens while in England, although their use are likely to prove 
highly economical when compared with those previously in use, (bis is 
especially the case qs regards Adie’s Patent Lawn Edger, which has com- 
pletely revolutionised this part of the work since its introduction. 
N. CANTLEY, 
Superintendent. 
t 
