8 
• 
q, A great deal of work has been done at odd times, as labour could be spared* 
towards filling in and raising the ground in the pot plant nursery, and thus increas- 
ing the area which is much too restricted for the increased work, as there is no other 
suitable site available. 
8. A further portion of the river bank has been sloped and turfed, roads repair- 
ed, trees and shrubs planted, lawns mowed, &c. as found necessary. 
9. Plants and seeds in considerable numbers have been exchanged with various 
Botanical and Horticultural establishments, and with private individuals. Plants to 
the value of $792. 75 were sold and the amount paid into revenue account. 
10. A matter of some interest to the planting community is the raising of a. 
pretty large batch of Borneo sugar canes from seed. The seeds were sown early in 
November and germinated in five days. They were pricked off when from a month 
to six weeks old in a mixture of leaf-mould and sand in equal parts, and many of 
them are now (January 14th) over 6 inches high. There are in all over 3,000 plants. 
Subsequent sowings of other varieties under exactly the same conditions proved a 
failure, probably because the seeds had not been collected at the right stage, but I 
do not despair of succeeding with the others as well. Cane seeds would appear to 
retain their vitality only a very short time, for a second sowing of Borneo cane from 
the same lot of seeds as the first which came up so well, after an interval of only a 
fortnight, did not produce a single plant. 
11. Ramie, to which considerable attention is being directed at present, has been 
distributed in small numbers, and a stock is being worked up with a view to meeting 
the demand which is almost certain to spring up within the next few months. Unfor- 
tunately the area of land at my disposal, suitable for this work, is very limited, being 
confined to the small Nursery at the Chitty Temple. In the Waterfall Garden there 
is hardly a square yard of level land and the soil is besides unsuitable for nursery 
work. 
12. At the request of the Director, and to meet the growing demand for infor- 
• mation by amateurs in the Settlement, a paper on the cultivation of plants in pots 
has been prepared which will be published in the Agricultural Bulletin of the Malay 
Peninsula. • t 
13. Two short botanical excursions for the purpose of collecting both living 
plants and herbarium specimens were undertaken during the year, one to the Lang- 
* kawi Islands in the month of April, and the other to the Siamese Malay State of 
Kasum in November. During these trips, I was enabled to add considerably to the 
number of plants cultivated in the Garden, and to the botanical knowledge of the re- 
gions visited. 
A short account of the latter trip was furnished to the Hon’ble Resident Councillor 
on my return, a copy of which is annexed (Appendix B ). 
14. The total expenditure in connection with the Waterfall Garden amount to 
$4,485.87, and the revenue collected from sale of plants, &c. to $839.95, as shown in 
Appendix A annexed. 
Government Hill Gardens. 
•15. 1896 proved an exceptionally wet year, the rainfall on Government Hill 
being a little over 150 inches, consequently a large amount of labour was expended 
in repairs to paths in the grounds of Government Bungalow. A number of roses, 
grafted in the Waterfall Garden, were planted out to replace the old ones that w 7 ere 
worn out, and are growing vigorously. 
A pretty regular supply of vegetables has been kept up, but it is a matter of 
'some difficulty to grow much during the wet weather. From November to March is 
the best season for growing vegetables, but the cost of transport of manure, and the 
limited area of ground available, prevents cultivation on any considerable scale. 
Potatoes planted in October ripened a fair crop in seventy days, but several were 
diseased. 
Table maize, which is deserving of much more attention than it gets in this coun- 
try, as it grows in the plain just as well as on the hill, was ready for use in 60 days. 
Indian saved seed proved better than American, 
16. Levelling and turfing the site for the tennis court at the new Convalescent 
Bungalow has been completed, but much requires to be done to these grounds in the 
way of planting, &c. when there is money available for carrying up manure. 
17. The experimental nursery has been kept clean and some of the more im- 
portant fruit trees manured, but beyond this, little could be done on the money avail- 
able. 
