12
of junks are engaged. The villages of Aberdeen, Stanley, Shaukiwan, and many others in the New Territories are largely dependent upon this industry for their prosperity. Fresh water fish is imported from Canton and the West River. There are oyster beds of considerable value in Deep Bay.
(d.) FORESTRY, AGRICULTURE And Botany.
The formation of pine tree plantations in the Harbour Belt between Lai-chi-kok and Lyemun has been continued to the extent of 300 acres, and failures in the older plantations in this area, in the catchment areas of Kowloon and Tytam Reservoirs and in the felled areas of Mount Kellet and Aberdeen have been made good. A few seedlings of the Nanmu or Coffin Wood-tree have been planted on the north side of Mount Victoria, the south side of Mount Kellet and at Aberdeen. A few Eucalyptus seedlings have also been planted at the latter place.
Shade trees in Kowloon and Hongkong have been replanted where necessary. Large quantities of brushwood have been removed from the plantations in various parts of the Colony and given to the villagers as payment for work done by them for the Government. A contract extending over three years has been made whereby 710 acres of old pine tree plantations at Mount Davis, Aberdeen and Tytam have been sold for felling. Several hundred thousand square feet of brushwood have been cleared in the neighbourhood of dwellings at Shaukiwan, West Point, the Peak and elsewhere in connection with the crusade against mosquitoes and malaria.
The crops of vegetables, rice, and fruits in the New Territories have not been so good as in the previous year.
Lists and samples of local plants and vegetable drugs were prepared and submitted to the Honourable Dr. Ho Kai who was good enough to make a prolonged investigation into their uses by Chinese druggists and herbalists. The lists with Dr. Ho Kai's recommendations as to which of the plants and drugs were worthy of scientific investigation were then forwarded to the Director of the Imperial Institute, London, for report as to whether any of them contained medicinal or toxic qualities, or had economic value. lists were sent by the Imperial Institute to the Pharmacopoeia Committee of the General Medical Council who reported that there were not sufficient indications of the extent or employment of individual plants to justify the inclusion of any of them in the Colonial Addendum to the British Pharmacopoeia. Professor Dunstan added that none of the plants seemed likely to yield products of economic value which are not already known.
Seeds of Aleurites Fordii, Aleurites cordata, Soja hispida and Perilla ocymoides, barks of Aleurites Fordii, Aleurites cordata and Aleurites triloba, as well as several kinds of vegetable oils were also sent to the Director of the Imperial Institute for a report as to their commercial value and suitability for the English market.
Work on the Flora of Hongkong, the New Territories and province has been carried on during the year, and a list with a key to the species, genera and orders is now nearly complete.