Appendix N.
HONG KONG.
REPORT OF THE BOTANICAL AND FORESTRY DEPARTMENT FOR THE YEAR 1936.
GENERAL.
The weather during the first seven months of the year was generally favourable for both gardening and forestry operations; the typhoon which passed close to the Colony on August the 17th did serious damage in all gardens and grounds and destroyed many roadside trees in all parts of the Colony.
2. The last three months of the year were very dry and many forest and grass fires occurred during this period.
3. The rainfall for the year, as recorded by the rain gauge in the New Garden, was 73.74 inches in 131 days as against 76.34 inches in 148 days in the preceding year.
GARDENS, PARKS AND GROUNDS.
4. Botanic Gardens.-The majority of the large trees and shrubs in both gardens were damaged and a large number totally destroyed by the typhoon; areas planted with annuals and other small shrubs were completely bare when the wind, which at one period reached a velocity of 132 miles per hour, had moderated.
5. The bandstand and the major portion of the plant house in the Old Garden were destroyed; fortunately, owing to the warnings sent out from the Royal Observatory, most of the pot plants were removed to sheltered positions and saved from damage.
6. The work of clearing debris and general reconditioning the gardens was still proceeding at the end of the year.
7. The largest tree totally destroyed was an Araucaria excelsa, R. Br., others were Ficus retusa, Wall., Prunus punctata, Hook., Grevillea robusta, A. Cunn., Thevetia neriifolia, Juss., Spathodea nilotica, Seem., Spathodea cauda-felinae, Hance, Cassia grandis, Linn., Paulownia Fortunei, Hemsl., Copaifera officinalis, Linn., Terminalia Catappa, DC., Stereospermum sinicum, Hance, Cassia fistula, Linn., Averrhoa Carambola, Linn., Acacia confusa, Merr., Keteleeria Fortunei, Carr, Ligustrum lucidum, Mill., Araucaria Cunninghamii, Ait., Camptotheca acuminata, Decne, Hovenia dulcis, Thunb., Eucalyptus Smithii, R. T. Baker and Cupressus lusitanica, Carr.