STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 
Paper to be laid before the Legislative Council by command 
of His Excellency the Administrator. 
Annual Keporfc on the Botanical Gardens for the year 1879. 
Botanical Gardens, 
Singapore , 2 oth March , 18 SO, 
8ir,— I have the honour to submit herewith mv Annual Report ou this department for 
the vear 1879. • 1 
To 
The Ron hie 
Cecil C. fcOirnr, 
Chairman of the Gardens Committee , 
Singapore . 
i have, Ac., 
II. .J. MURTON. 
Superintendent. 
11 EFO R T 
The extraordinary quantity of rain that has fallen in Singapore during the past year, 
viz., 111,93 inches, has rendered the task of keeping the Gardens in good order more than 
usually hard, as weals have grown with such astonishing rapidity and vigour that a 
considerable portion of the time and Labour that would otherwise have been devoted to 
carrying out projected improvements lias been necessarily taken up by matters of ordinary 
routine. ' 
It lias, however, proved beneficial to all tin* newly planted trees, Ac., and 1 have not to 
record the death of one specimen of tree or shrub of value or importance. 
One large specimen of Araucaria Cookii is showing signs of decay, owing to attacks of 
white ants, and although various remedies have been applied, I have little hope of its recovery. 
This, however, will prove a very trifling loss, as the Gardens are rather overstocked with 
cone-shaped trees of this description already. 
A considerable number of alterations have been carried out during the year, winch will 
doubtless prove improvements to the general appearance of the Gardens. 
A large clump of trees near the orchid house, which had become covered wit h coarse- 
growing climbers and served only to conceal a rubbish pit, has been removed, the pit filled 
up, and the ground sown with grass seeds. A large quantity of thoroughly decayed leaf - 
mould was obtained from this place, which has proved of material use for mixing with the 
compost for plants in pots. 
The ground on which the large Carnivora cages formerly stood has been drained, filled 
with suitable compost, and is now being laid out for the reception of the Bomeliaceeg , a very 
beautiful class of plants, to which, through the generosity of Dr. Scheffer, Java, and 
AT. Godefroy-Lerevf, Argenteuil, no Jess than 22 genera and 63 species have been added 
during the } T ear, 
A number of old, unsightly plants of the Pumelow and “ Buah Kanarie” (Canarium 
commune) have been removed from the lawn on the side of the Gardens nearest Tyersall, 
where the soil is of /ho very worst description. 
'A great improvement to the general appearance of the Gardens has been made bv 
lifting the turf on the right-hand side of the drive leading past the lake to the Band-stand, 
and raising it above the level of the side-drains : over 400 carts of soil were used for this 
purpose. ^ 
lioads and Walks . se have all been gone over during the year, and many of them 
entirely re-made. 360 cbbhvyards of later itc were placed on the road around the Band-stand 
alone, besides which the following roads have been entirely remetalled: — Bond to Super- 
intendent’s Quarters ; road frhm junction near the palm clump past the orchid house to the 
long border ; road past palm cmmp to Chmy Hoad ; the road from the orchid house past the 
head of the lake: and the road from the Band-stand to Bogie is now undergoing a thorough 
repair. The main drive past the®lake and over the hill lias also undergone extensive 
repairs. 
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