AnnualReport-1923 — Page 445

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Creeper fences and plant houses in both gardens required considerable repairs after the storms. Pot plants which were carried into shelter on the approach of each storm suffered little from the high winds but constant handling robbed them of many of their blooms.

The very heavy rains which fell on the last days in August and October also wrought considerable damage. In the New Garden the Upper Gallery Walk at the west end and the bank above were undermined and a large landslide took place on September 1st, involving the whole earth bank between Robinson Road and Glenealy Path. The slide took place some forty minutes after the great earthquake in Japan and there may possibly have been some connection between the two events. Two large trees of Araucaria Bidwill which had been growing below the Gallery Walk were involved in the slide and destroyed. The configuration of the garden at this point is completely changed; retaining walls are being built to support the bank but it is unlikely that the Gallery Walk can be reinstated.

The rainfall of the 29th and 30th October, when 11 inches fell in 24 hours, caused damage mainly by the complete choking of the whole drainage system of the Gardens and the consequent scour from the rushing water down the various banks.

Many of the newly planted Summer flowering annuals which form so conspicuous a feature on the lower terrace of the Old Garden were spoiled by the heavy rains of July and August and the continuous wet weather during the Autumn destroyed a large number of rose bushes. Replacements were therefore heavy. Winter annuals also suffered greatly from the Autumn rains.

With a view to restoring in some measure the beauty of the Gardens the following trees and shrubs, many of which have not previously been known or are rarely seen in the Colouy, were planted in suitable positions :-Cassia nodosa, Lespedeza ciatorum, Cratonia siliqua, Eucalyptus sideroxylon, Acacia pennata, Cleroden- dron myrmeophilum and Ficus altissima. Seeds of the last mentioned were presented to this Department by Captain Hodgins of the S.S. "Hoi Hong" in 1906; a specimen of this tree was first discovered at Cape D'Aguilar in 1904 by Mr. S. T. Dunn, then Superintendent of the Department.

The kerb stones along the border at the top of the New Gar- den were raised and put in order and the herbaceous plants rear- ranged and replanted; similar stones near the Amaryllis bed under the big Banian in the Old Garden were treated in the same

way.

Amaryllis plants in beds were heavily dressed with manure in February before they came to flower. Cannas were removed from the beds, split and after the ground had been well manured, replanted.