Annual Report on the Botanic Gardens and Forest 
Department, for the year 1890. 
BOTANIC GARDENS, SINGAPORE. 
Although during the past year the funds did not permit of any very large works 
being undertaken, yet a number of minor improvements were made, which have added 
to the interest and beauty of the Gardens. While staying for a few days at Buitenzorg on 
the occasion of my visit to Cocos and Christmas Islands, I carefully examined the methods 
of working and general arrangement of the Botanic Gardens there under the direction 
of Dr. Treub. The Botanical establishment is one of the largest and best appointed 
in the world, but though it is impossible to compete with it here, I observed several 
points which might well be imitated. The great feature is the grouping of all the 
plants of one natural order together, attempts being made to complete the series as 
much as possible. To do this artistically is not at all easy, for in many of the natural 
orders, such as Cupuliferae or Myrtaceas, a large series of the different species presents 
to an ordinary visitor a monotonous appearance owing to their similarity. At the 
same time if the plants of the different orders are kept in special places set apart for 
each order, it is easy for any one interested in botany or who wishes to see a particu- 
lar plant to find it in its proper place. I hope, however, to introduce this system, at 
least to a certain extent, into the Gardens, without injuring their present picturesque 
appearance. 
Of certain orders the plants have already been grouped or collected together in 
various parts of the Gardens, and it is proposed to continue this so that the various 
orders may be well represented and may be easily found and studied. 
The following orders have thus been treated : — 
Legnminosae. — A bare piece of grass on the further side of the lake has been 
selected for these, and planted with Calliandras, Bauhimas and various other plants 
of this order. They are doing well, and the Bauhinias especially are flowering well 
already though only recently planted. Bignoniaceae have been grouped round one of 
the slopes near the main entrance near a fine Steveospermum belonging to this 
order. The Coniferae and Cycadeas are to be found on the hill near the aviary. 
A long border running from the Amaryllid beds to the entrance of the fernery is 
filled with Scitaminese. A path behind and parallel to this in the shrubbery contains 
a series of A voids. A collection of Bromeliacex has been arranged in a long bed 
running parallel to the road from Tyersall into the Gardens behind the row of sugar- 
palms. This ground was formerly occupied by a series of oblong beds representing 
various orders, but which w r ere unsuitable and unsightly, owing to the soil and 
exposure not suiting many of the plants, while the stiff lines of the beds were very 
unpicturesque. The upper part of this piece of ground has been terraced and 
planted with roses, which there is reason to believe will do well there, and a long 
border has been made on the side nearest the \ yersall road and planted with plants 
useful in supplying cut-flowers for decoration, etc. 
Other orders will be similarly arranged gradually, the less showy ones being 
located in less conspicuous ground, so that eventually we shall have a real botanical 
garden as well as a picturesque one. 
Among other improvements is the conversion of a waste piece of ground behind 
the orchid house into a series of rockeries. This place was formerly an orchard of 
rambai trees ( Baccaurea dulcis) . Some of the trees were cleared out, and pathways 
left between the others, the spaces between the trees along the paths were filled with 
coral rock, and each mass w r as planted with plants of some group or groups such as 
naturally grow on shaded rocks. Thus, one is covered with Bcgonias ) another with 
Calatheas and Phryniums , another with Pe/lionias, etc., and so on. These plants have 
grown remarkably rapidly, and many such as Anasctochili grow here better than in 
any other way. Between the rockery and the main road are some banks of Arundo y 
Acaiypha and such like plants, and the whole of this portion of the Garden from the 
orchid house to the end is fenced in with barbed wire fencing. Two small rockeries 
have also been placed at the turning point of the road near the orchid house, beneath 
the bamboos. 
