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One new fire barrier 14 miles in length was made in Plantation -7C, below Matilda Hospital, Mount Kellet.
The total lengths of old barriers cleared before the dry season amounted to 184 miles in the New Territories, 17 miles in Hong-kong and 5 miles at Fan Ling.
Removal of trees.
At Shing Mun large numbers of Pinus Massoniana and other native trees were removed at the request of the Public Works Department to allow of road-building and other works; in both Hongkong and Kowloon the sale of land for building lots has necessitated the removal of many thousands of trees.
One very fine specimen of Bombax malabaricum had to be sacrificed at "Jardine's Hill", Praya East, to allow of road improvements.
The usual removal of undergrowth as part of the campaign against malaria was conducted throughout the whole year, the total area cleared amounting to over 7,600,000 square feet while the total area cleared for survey purpose by P.W.D. 7,000,000 square feet.
Nurseries, Agriculture, &c.
In the 9A Nursery, Kowloon, six thousand young Camphor were raised and planted out and a large stock of “Jak" (Artocarpus integrifolia) and Water Pine (Glyptostrobus heterophyllus) now in the beds are available for planting at any time.
The whole of the beds in the Little Hongkong Nursery were sown with Camphor seeds and over 5,000 young trees raised in readiness for the replanting of the adjoining cleared area of Little Hongkong Forest.
At the Fan Ling Experimental Garden a crop of Perilla ocymoides grown from seed was tried and grew well but the yield of seed was very small and insufficient to crush for the determination of the quantity of oil present.
Young trees of Aleurites montana continue to do well and a large number are now ready for roadside planting, next year.
The first and second crops of rice were good and the Smooth Cayenne pine apples fruited well, the fruit is much heavier than that of the local species and of a superior flavour.
Some trees of "Buddha's Finger Citron" (Citrus Medica, var Cherocarpus) which were procured from Wat Nam in 1922 produced about 30 very large fruits.
Eleven thousand six hundred and sixty-one packages containing 1,465,360 bulbs of Narcissus Tazetta were inspected and certified for export to the United States of America, Honolulu, Canada and the United Kingdom.