THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 18TH JUNE, 1898.
LOAN OF PLANTS.
603
17. The number of plauts lent was 4,466. for which $227.99 was collected, which are consider able increases over the previous year's returns.
RAINFALL.
18. The rainfall at the gardens was 110.27 inches. The daily returns are given in Appendix C. I am indebted to Mr. L. GIBBS, of the Public Works Department, for the accurate altitude of the rain gauge, which he found to be 306.8 feet above mean sea level.
HERBARIUM AND LIBRARY.
19. Annual Reports, Bulletins, &c., have been received from the Botanic Gardens, &c., as follows:-
British Guiana, Ceylon, Calentta, Dominica, Durban, Grenada, Jamaica, Kew, Kolonial Museum Haarlem, Mysore, Palermo, Rio de Janeiro, Saharanpur, Straits Settlements, Sierra Leone, Trinidad, the Horticultural Society of India, the Agri-Horticultural Society Madras, the Agricultural Departments Cape of Good Hope, England, India, United States of America, Queensland, and Victoria Reports of Forest Administration in Ajmere, Andamans, Balu- chistan, Bombay Presidency, Burma, Central Provinces, Ceylon, Hyderabad, Bengal, Madras Presidency, North-West Provinces and Oudh, Punjab, and Western Australia. The following works have also been added to the library:--
Presented:---
Catalogue of Plants growing iu the open air in
the Garden of Thos Hanbury. Presented by Thos. Hanbury, Esq.
Commercial Plants and Drugs, 1897. Present-
ed by Messrs Christy & Co.
Flora Forestière de la Cochin-Chine. Part XXII.
Presented by Royal Gardens, Kew.
Flora of British India, Part XXII. Presented
by Royal Gardens. Kew.
Purchased:
Botanical Magazine, 1897.
Extra Tropical Plants, Von Mueller. Flora Capensis, Vol. VI. Part I.
Gardeners' Chronicle, 1897.
Hand List of Tender Monocotyledons, 1897.
Presented by Royal Gardens, Kew. Hooker's Icones Plantarum, Vol. VI., Parts 1 and 2. Presented by the Bentham Trustees through Royal Gardens, Kew. New Natal Plants, decade I. J. Medley Wood.
Presented by the Author.
Index to the Street, Houses and Leased Lots,
Hongkong.
Monographiae Phanerogamarum, Vol. Nonum.
De Candolle.
20. My absence on leave in Englaud prevented any work in the incorporation of additional specimens in the collections of dried plants.
The dried specimens which are scientifically arranged are contained in 26 cabinets, each cabinet containing 10 drawers.
FORESTRY.
21. Planting operations for the year were completed before I left for England in March, the season having been favourable for early work. The total number of trees planted was 26,066.
The usual tabular statement is contained in Appendix D.
22. Alterations and improvements of roads, and the extension of recreation grounds in the Happy Valley necessitated the transplanting of 46 large roal-side trees: most of these trees were of great age and about 30 fost high; the operations were successful in all but four cases.
About 800 feet of the road on the castern side of the recreation ground extension was planted with young trees of camphor and Albizzia.
A hedge of bamboos 2,000 feet in length was placed along three sides of the recreation ground. 23. Mr. WILLIAM FAWCETT, M.A., Director of the Botanical Department, Jamaica, in bis Bulletin for October, 1896, refers as follows to a communication from a late celebrated botanist :-
“Baron Sir F. VON MUELLER, the veteran Government Botanist of Victoria, who has done so much for the economic botany of the world, sent to the Director in April, 1895, seeds of a Melaleuca (M. leucadendron), to which he thus refers :-This tree should become of the utmost importance also to the Western Hemisphere. As a tropical tree, fit to grow in malarial swamps, and containing in its foliage much antiseptic and antimiasmatic oil, it deserves your special attention. It will grow where no Eucalyptus could be reared,'
This tree was introduced to our gardens, where it is an ornamental object, many years ago, and last year I had seeds collected from which about 2,000 seedlings were reared; these have been planted this year in the vicinity of Kennedy Town Hospital.