9 It is satisfactory to be able to note that the piece of waste ground alluded to in paragraph 6 of my last Report has finally been set apart for garden purposes, and that a small vote was granted last year to commence the laying of it out. The work was begun last December, and will, I hope, be completed during the next dry season, i.e., after the balance of what is required to finish the work shall have been granted during the current year.
10. When we shall have got the New Garden extension grounds sufficiently advanced to remove thither the less interesting portion of nursery stock, I hope that with the present nursery ground we shall be able to make suitable arrangements for the improved cultivation of specimen plants in pots, of decorative, botanical, and economical interest, and that for this end we shall be able to put up the requisite structures, some of a light and inexpensive nature; and, if possible, some of glass to protect tender plants from cold and drying winds. If we could be provided with the means for this, an additional source of utility, pleasure, and interest could be secured.
11. Some special attention has been bestowed on getting together a good collection of the different varieties of Bamboo of China and Japan. I was enabled to add several useful varieties from the West River during my expedition to the Cassia lignea districts. The collection in the Garden now represents twenty-five varieties.
12. The botanical origin of the Star Anise of commerce not having yet been verified beyond the fact that it is a species of Illicium, probably near to the Japanese I. anisatum, a good deal of interest has been excited in the subject, and H. KOPSCH, Esq., Commissioner of Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs at Pakhoi, being situated at the port at which large quantities of Star Anise are received from the interior for export, has taken great interest in the subject, and he has made repeated exertions to procure seeds or plants of the tree. Mr. KOPSCH very kindly sent me seeds on two or three occasions, but they did not germinate. However, Mr. KOPSCH eventually succeeded in obtaining a few very small seedlings which he forwarded to me; they have had the greatest care bestowed on them, and I am glad to say that six are now thriving perfectly, and I hope that ultimately we shall succeed in getting them to flower, and that then the plant can be examined and the species satisfactorily ascertained, if before then we do not succeed in procuring good dried botanical specimens of the plant from the districts where it grows. I hope that I may have the opportunity of visiting the districts to the North-west of Pakhoi, where it grows. The districts could only be reached by a considerable amount of troublesome overland travelling, but I think the journey is practicable. If this journey could sometime be made, the whole question of the botanical origin and cultivation of the Star Anise could probably be settled, as was done with the Cassia lignea by my expedition to the West River last year.
13. The usual Annual Flower Show was held by the Exhibition Society in the Gardens in February. These shows have been held uninterruptedly for ten years, and they have fulfilled the chief purpose for which they were organised, viz., to improve the cultivation and supply for market purposes of the kinds of vegetables usually grown in Europe, as well as Chinese kinds. The cultivation of pot plants in general, except by a few energetic exhibitors, has not made the advance which was anticipated. Several years ago I drew attention to the possibility of much success in fern cultivation which might be achieved by any one desirous of taking it up. The really fine specimens of ferns exhibited at the recent (1883) Show were a fulfillment of what I predicted might be done.
14. I have the great gratification of being able to record a new and important departure in the work of this department, which, now that the Secretary of State has been good enough to sanction the appointment of an Assistant from England, I trust we shall be able to continue with energy. In the month of May last, with the consent of this Government, and with the approval of Lord KIMBERLEY, at the instance of Sir JOSEPH HOOKER, I was permitted to make the first of what is intended to be a series of expeditions in the Chinese Empire, for the purpose of obtaining more knowledge of its little known vegetable productions. I proceeded to the Cassia lignea districts on the West River, for the purpose of clearing up the uncertainty respecting the botanical origin of Cassia Bark, and for the acquirement of information on the collection of the Bark and cultivation of the plant, so that the information which had been so long wanted might be made available for scientific and economic purposes. The full Report on the result of the expedition was published in the Government Gazette on the 26th August, 1882. Dried specimens of the plant were brought back and forwarded to Sir JOSEPH D. HOOKER, at Kew, where they were identified without doubt as Cinnamomum Cassia, Bl. Subsequently, living plants, which I had also brought back with me, were distributed from this Garden to the Botanic Gardens of Kew, Singapore, Calcutta, Ceylon, Mauritius, and Brisbane, and to the Fiji Government. From the Royal Gardens, Kew, the plants will be forwarded to the West Indian Colonial Gardens; and from Mauritius a number were to go forward to Zanzibar. Acknowledgements of the receipt of the plants at most of the above named places have been received, and the reports state that they arrived in good condition, in some instances not a plant having died in transit. The total number of plants distributed was 641. Besides the plants sent away a number have been kept to stock a small experimental plantation in this Colony.
Mr. W. T. THISELTON DYER, C.M.G., F.R.S., &c., Assistant Director of Kew Gardens, read, on November 16th, 1882, at the Meeting of the Linnean Society of London, a Note on the Origin of Cassia lignea.
In the course of the paper Mr. DYER remarked in reference to my Report:-
This
1
9 It is satisfactory to be able to note that the piece of waste ground alluded to in paragraph 6 of my last Report has finally been set apart for garden purposes, and that a small vote was granted last year to commence the laying of it out. The work was begun last December, and will, I hope, be completed during the next dry season, i.e., after the balance of what is required to finish the work shall have been granted during the current year.
10. When we shall have got the New Garden extension grounds sufficiently advanced to remove thither the less interesting portion of nursery stock, I hope that with the present nursery ground we shall be able to make suitable arrangements for the improved cultivation of specimen plants in pots, of decorative, botanical, and economical interest, and that for this end we shall be able to put up the requisite structures, some of a light and inexpensive nature; and, if possible, some of glass to protect tender plants from cold and drying winds. If we could be provided with the means for this, an additional source of utility, pleasure, and interest could be secured.
11. Some special attention has been bestowed on getting together a good collection of the different varieties of Bamboo of China and Japan. I was enabled to add several useful varieties from the West River during my expedition to the Cassia lignea districts. The collection in the Garden now represents twenty-five varieties.
12. The botanical origin of the Star Anise of commerce not having yet been verified beyond the fact that it is a species of Illicium, probably near to the Japanese I. anisatum, a good deal of interest has been excited in the subject, and H. KOPSCH, Esq., Commissioner of Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs at Pakhoi, being situated at the part at which large quantities of Star Anise are received from the interior for export, has taken great interest in the subject, and he has made repeated exertions to procure seeds or plants of the tree. Mr. KOPSCH very kindly sent me seeds on two or three occasions, but they did not germinate. However, Mr. KOPSCH eventually succeeded in obtaining a few very small seedlings which he forwarded to me; they have had the greatest care bestowed on them, and I am glad to say that six are now thriving perfectly, and I hope that ultimately we shall succeed in getting them to flower, and that then the plant can be examined and the species satisfactorily ascertained, if before then we do not succeed in procuring good dried botanical specimens of the plant from the districts where it grows. I hope that I may have the opportunity of visiting the districts to the North-west of Pakhoi, where it grows. The districts could only be reached by a considerable amount of troublesome overland travelling, but I think the journey is practicable. If this journey could sometime be made, the whole question of the botanical origin and cultivation of the Star Anise could probably be settled, as was done with the Cassia lignea by my expedition to the West River last year.
13. The usual Annual Flower Show was held by the Exhibition Society in the Gardens in February. These shows have been held uninterruptedly for ten years, and they have fulfilled the chief purpose for which they were organised, viz., to improve the cultivation and supply for market purposes of the kinds of vegetables usually grown in Europe, as well as Chinese kinds. The cultivation of pot plants in general, except by a few energetic exhibitors, has not made the advance which was anticipated. Several years ago I drew attention to the possibility of much success in fern cultivation which might be achieved by any one desirous of taking it up. The really fine specimens of ferns exhibited at the recent (1883) Show were a fulfillment of what I predicted might be done.
14. I have the great gratification of being able to record a new and important departure in the work of this department, which, now that the Secretary of State has been good enough to sanction the appointment of an Assistant from England, I trust we shall be able to continue with energy. In the month of May last, with the consent of this Government, and with the approval of Lord KIMBERLEY, at the instance of Sir JOSEPH HOOKER, I was permitted to make the first of what is intended to be a series of expeditions in the Chinese Empire, for the purpose of obtaining more knowledge of its little known vegetable productions. I proceeded to the Cassia lignea districts on the West River, for the purpose of clearing up the uncertainty respecting the botanical origin of Cassia Bark, and for the acquirement of information on the collection of the Bark and cultivation of the plant, so that the information which had been so long wanted might be made available for scientific and economic purposes. The full Report on the result of the expedition was published in the Government Gazette on the 26th August, 1882. Dried specimens of the plant were brought back and forwarded to Sir JOSEPH D. HOOKER, at Kew, where they were identified without doubt as Cinnamomum Cassia, Bl. Subsequently, living plants, which I had also brought back with me, were distributed from this Garden to the Botanic Gardens of Kew, Singapore, Calcutta, Ceylon, Mauritius, and Brisbane, and to the Fiji Government. From the Royal Gardens, Kew, the plants will be forwarded to the West Indian Colonial Gardens; and from Mauritius a number were to go forward to Zanzibar. Acknowledgements of the receipt of the plants at most of the above named places have been received, and the reports state that they arrived in good condition, in some instances not a plant having died in transit. The total number of plants distributed was 641. Besides the plants sent away a number have been kept to stock a small experi- mental plantation in this Colony.
Mr. W. T. THISELTON DYER, C.M.G., F.R S., &c., Assistant Director of Kew Gardens, read, in November 16th, 1882, at the Meeting of the Linnean Society of London, a Note on the Origin of Cassia ligne
ʼn the course of the paper Mr. DYER remarked in reference to my Report:-
This
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