HONGKONG
No. 1.
REPORT ON THE BOTANICAL AND AFFORESTATION DEPARTMENT, FOR THE YEAR 1904.
No. 8.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.
BOTANICAL AND AFFORESTATION DEPARTMENT, HONGKONG, 24th March, 1905.
SIR, I have the honour to submit, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, the Annual Report on this Department for the year 1904.
STAFF.
The Department was administered by the Superintendent throughout the year. The Assistant Superintendent, Mr. W. J. TUTCHER, went home on a well- earned year's leave on the 29th of March. During the four or five weeks in the Autumn that the Superintendent was obliged to be absent from the office on various services in the New Territory, the First Clerk, Mr. WANG LUN-1, was left in charge of the Department and discharged a difficult task with considerable tact.
Mr. TUTCHER while in England has been elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society, an honour upon which he is much to be congratulated.
BOTANIC GARDENS.
Water Supply.-The water service of the Gardens was greatly improved during the year by the substitution of an uniform system of 3" pipes for the previous irregular one. A considerable saving in labour and expense will be effected in consequence of this work, and the inconvenience to visitors necessitated by gardeners filling watering-cans from the fountain will be avoided.
Military and Naval Bands.-The fine band of the Royal West Kent Regiment played in the Gardens three times during the winter.
Dr. KRUGER's kindness in securing a performance of the band of the German Flagship S.M. gr. kr. "Fuerst Bismarck" was also much appreciated.
Ornaments.-Two small field guns were kindly presented to the Gardens by H. E. the General Officer Commanding and have been placed one on each side of Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY'S statue.
Square Bamboos.-(Phyllostachys quadrangularis, Rendle). In consequence of a request from Sir ERNEST SATOW that this Department would endeavour to obtain and acclimatize the Square Bamboo with a view to providing specimens for the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, Mr. MORTIMORE, British Consul at Wenchow, was approached and asked to send a few clumps to Hongkong. Mr. MORTIMORE most kindly undertook to do so, and in March a box of them was received in good condition. The clumps were at once planted in various situations and all are doing well.
The bamboo grows on the Island at Wenchow upon which the British Consulate is situated. This is a new record of the species for the Province of Chekiang and connects the two previously known habitats in Kiangsu and
Fokien.
Rainfall.-Details of daily rainfall throughout the year will be found in Appendix E. The most remarkable falls occurred at the ends of June and July respectively.
Exchanges.--The chief recipients of plants and seeds were :—
Sir THOMAS ACLAND (England), Lady BLAKE (Ceylon), Botanic Gardens of Adelaide, Brisbane, Calcutta, Capetown, Ceylon, Christchurch (N. Z.), Durban, Jamaica, Kew, Lagos, Melbourne, Saharanpur, Sierra Leone, Singapore and Sydney, Hon. A. W. BREWIN, Com- modore DICKEN, Capt. FITZWILLIAMS, Dr. FRANCESCHI (California), Forestry Bureau (Manila), Government Civil Hospital, H. H.