11 
where necessary. Sodium chlorate was used to keep down weeds on those paths 
which do not drain into the lake, but cannot be used on those which 
do, as it might kill plants and fish. The path on the east side of the 
plant house, which was dangerous when wet, was dug up, levelled and relaid. 
Baskets for litter were put up at strategic points within the Gardens; pre¬ 
viously none has been provided. It now remains to be seen whether the 
public will use them. 
X. LIBRARY 
53. Dr. (Mrs.) A. Johnson, was engaged as a part-time librarian for 
months and catalogued the library. The last published catalogue was done 
in 1898. The books were classified on the Universal Decimal System and were 
found to number some 8,000 bound volumes. There is in addition the very large 
number of volumes waiting to be bound. Our oldest book was found to be 
Pa ulus Aeginetes’ Pharmaca Simplica and De Redone V ictus, which was 
published at Strasburg in 1531. Our collection includes many eighteenth and 
early nineteenth century publications, many of them with handsome coloured 
plates, which are very valuable and many of them now unobtainable. Seventy 
books were added to the library during the year. 
54. The new room, built to house the spirit collection of plants, was air- 
conditioned and fitted with new book cases. It is being used temporarily to 
house the more valuable books and those in more general use, until such 
time as a new library is built. According to the development plan this is 
scheduled in 1957. The present building will only hold part of the library and 
there is no room for expansion. A man was fully employed for the whole year 
hand-poisoning all the library books and this, together with the removal to the 
air-conditioned room, has halted the delapidations recorded in last year’s 
report. 
55. It is estimated that there are about 1,000 volumes waiting to be 
bound, both periodicals and old volumes in need of rebinding. The back-lag is 
a matter of some concern. The Government Printer bound a few volumes during 
the year, but it is obvious that he cannot cope with the great amount to be 
done, and failure to bind them will result in further deterioration. In addition 
it makes reference work very difficult and tedious and much time is wasted 
searching through piles of unbound periodicals. 
56. Exchange arrangements with scientific institutions for the Annual 
Report and Gardens' Bulletin were reviewed during the year. A circular was 
sent out with last year’s Annual Report, asking institutions if they wished to 
receive one or both publications and what they could offer in exchange. 
Reciprocal exchange was reconfirmed or was proposed and accepted with 117 
overseas institutions, while negotiations with a few others are still in progress. 
In this way it has been possible to augment the number of useful periodicals 
received by the library.There is insufficint money in the library vote to pay 
for binding or to purchase all the books which should be added to the library. 
XI. BAND CONCERTS 
57. Concerts by the military bands on duty in Singapore were begun on 
the 20th February and were continued during the year on alternate Sundays at 
5 p.m., thanks to the courtesy of the General Officer Commanding the Singa¬ 
pore Base District, Major-General D. D. C. Tulloch, c.b,, d.s.o., m.c. The 
concerts have proved extremely popular and very large crowds have come to 
