12. Provision having been made in the Estimates 1898 for an additional room for 
keeping herbarium specimens, a large number, that had been accumulating for years, 
have been mounted, and as soon as the room is ready will be systematically arranged 
so as to be readily available for reference, 
13. A short botanical tour of three days’ duration for the purpose of collecting 
living plants was made in the company of the Director to the Langkawi Islands in 
'February; and in May I attended the Singapore Flower Show and obtained a good 
many desirable additions to the collection already in cultivation. 
14. i he total expenditure in connection with the maintenance of the Waterfall 
Garden, as shown in statement annexed, is I4498.11, and the receipts from sale of 
plants and use of swimming bath to $974.76, showing an actual cost of $3,523.35. 
Hill Experimental Nursery. 
15. Nothing of importance has been done in the Experimental Nursery, and it 
is not intended in future to spend much on it beyond keeping the fruit trees, &c. 
clean. None of the European fruits introduced are likely to be of any commercial 
value in this country, unless the olive should do so, which is still doubtful. Peaches, 
apples, and figs have been produced, but not in sufficient numbers to warrant any 
further expenditure in this direction. The terracing of every foot of land required, 
and the cost of carrying up manure renders it undesirable to plant anything here 
that can be grown equally well elsewhere. 
Two men are employed here during four days in the week, the remainder of their 
time being employed in keeping in order the grounds of Convalescent Bungalow. 
Government Hill Bungalow. 
■* c> 
16. The unusually heavy rainfall on the hill of 175.85 inches, which is, I believe, 
an unique record for Penang, was, during a great portion of the year, unfavourable for 
the cultivation of both vegetables and flowering plants. Some difficulty was also ex- 
perienced in the matter of labour, four out of six men accustomed to garden work 
having left at one time to take up employment on the railway in the Native States, 
on higher pay. 
17. A small but fairly constant supply of vegetables was kept up during the 
whole year, a few native kinds being grown during the heavier rains. The European 
kinds planted were : — Beet, lettuce, cabbage, carrot, turnip, Khol rabi, leek, 
parsley, endive, cucumber, onion, peas, beans and celery. Some of these were 
of little account from July to October, but cabbage grown from cuttings did well in 
all weathers. A paper on the cultivation of vegetables in Penang has been written 
for the next Agricultural Bulletin. 
18. Annuals and other flowering plants have been grown in variety in both 
pots and beds, but the show of flowers has not been so good as in drier seasons. 
Dahlias, salvias, begonias and coreopsis made a bright show in beds, and both 
Lilium longiflorum , and carnation marguerite promise to make a good show later on. 
19. A number of young roses have been put in as the old stock was getting- 
worn out. Tea and China roses are the only ones that are really satisfactory in this 
climate. 
20. Orchids, of which considerable numbers do not grow satisfactorily in 
the Waterfall Garden, have been sent up and planted on the Dacrydium trees border- 
ing the paths in the bungalow gardens at an altitude of 2,500 feet. Several species 
that cannot be got to exist lor more than a few months on the plains have taken a 
firm hold of the trees and in some cases have already flowered. 
About a dozen plants of V anda ccerulea flowered in August and September, and * 
one plant of V anda kimbal liana , a species that does not grow well on the plains. 
Vanda tricolor is growing well, and as the climatic conditions are very similar to 
those under which they are found growing in Java, I have hopes that they will even- 
tually spread themselves over the hills. 
Dendrobuim aureum , D. Jamesianum , and D. Camhridgeanum have been most 
floriferous, all from growths made since they were fastened to the trees. Others, 
such as D. nobile, and D. densiflorum , of which there are several dozens of plants, 
will probably flower later on if we get a spell of dry weather. This season I shall add 
a good number of D. Devonianum , D. Wardianum D. crassinode and others obtained 
during a recent trip to Burma, and which are now flowering in the Waterfall Garden, 
to the collection on the hill. 
