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PLANT SHADING.
9. A section of WALTER & Co.'s wood roller blind shading was obtained froin England for trial. It was fixed over a part of No. 10 plant-house, and it is successful, but it remains to be proved whe- ther it will ultimately prove more economical than drill shading which is used rather extensively.
The first cost of the lath shading deters me from using it generally.
10. The success which has followed the new split bamboo roof in place of reed shading over plant- house No. 3 justifies the construction of similar roofs over houses Nos. 1 and 2 as soon as there is an opportunity for doing so.
FLOWER BEDS AND BORDERS.
11. The various beds, &c. have been kept well filled and maintained. About 12,000 plants are used annually for this purpose only.
WATER SUPPLY.
12. During periods of drought, like that of the 1898-99 dry season, much inconvenience is experienced in that portion of the garden which is supplied from the Tytam water-works system when the water is turned on for only an hour or less, as it is impossible to accumulate in so short a time sufficient water in the tanks for our requirements, consequently water has to be carried at much ex- pense from Glenealy. If there is any probability of similar scarcity of water in future, it would be of advantage to the gardens and the water-works to conduct, by means of a small pipe from Glenealy to a point near the nursery, the water which at present runs to waste down the Glenealy nullah.
NOTES ON PLANTS.
13. Hippeastrum.-(Amaryllis). Named kinds of plants and plants raised from Veitch's select strain now flower freely; they are an immense improvement on the older varieties, which are being discarded now that there are sufficient of the superior kinds.
14. Nepenthes ventricosa, Blanco. In 1896 I was supplied with cuttings from the Philippine Islands by Mr. C. CUNDALL, of Manila, and Mr. H. HUMPHREYS, of Hongkong, of a pitcher plant which were struck and produced pitchers in 1898. A plant was sent to Kew in 1897 and it was there found on comparison with dried specimens to be N. ventricosa described by Blanco in 1837. It is a valu- able acquisition in cultivation, and it appears that it had not previously been introduced in a living state to England.
15. Lantana sp. var. Drap d'or. This is a dwarf variety with beautiful bright-yellow flowers obtained from Messrs. J. VEITCH & SONS; Chelsea. It thrives well here and is a useful addition.
16. Derris Fordii, Oliver. When this flowered last year it was a picture of beauty, the colours of the flowers, which were produced in the greatest profusion, are white and red.
The plant was discovered by myself on the Lienchau river in the Kwangtung province in 1887, and then introduced to Hongkong. It is well worth cultivating in tropical countries.
17. Rourea santaloides, W. & Arn. This is a lovely plant when in bloom, which when culti- vated as in these gardens is immensely improved in the quantity of flowers it bears to any wild speci- mens I have seen of it. It is indigenous to this island.
18. Rhodoleia Championi, Hook. Until last year it was not known that this beautiful tree existed in a wild state in any part of the world with the exception of four trees on one of the hills of Hongkong. It is of a genus which has only two known species, the one of Hongkong and another, R. Teysmanni, Mig., found in Sumatra. Last year Dr. A. HENRY sent as a donation about 1,174 species of dried plants which he had collected while at Mengtsze in Yunnan. I found amongst them specimens of this hitherto extremely rare tree.
The specimens before me are marked on Dr. HENRY's labels as being from two different places, one of them being 5,000 ft. and the other 8,000 ft. above sea level, and are marked as 40 ft. and 50 ft. as the height of the trees respectively.
These two specimens and our own are all slightly different in both foliage and inflorescence, but possibly not of sufficient difference to constitute them more than varietal differences.
19. Illicium verum, Hook, f. Although so long ago as in 1888 when Sir JOSEPH HOOKER was able to figure the star anise plant, and to describe it under the above name, from plants which I had sent to Kew, and which proved that up to that time Illicium religiosum, Sieb, had always been wrongly credited as being the source of star anise of commerce, I notice that the French in Tonkin, where the plant is largely cultivated, appear to be still unaware of the fact, as the Tonkin newspapers still refer to it under the wrong name, and the same mistake is made in English literature in China. Sir JOSEPH HOOKER wrote fully on this plant under Tab. 7,005 in the Botanical Magazine for 1888.
20. Strawberries. It may be useful to record here the great success achieved by a Chinese grower at Wongneichung, from whence a very liberal supply of excellent fruit has been sent to the market this year, and which was sold at prices which should encourage extended cultivation for market supply.