Sessional_Paper_1885-1886 — Page 208

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10. The plant which yields the Chinese Star-anise is still growing well in the garden, but has not yet flowered; when it does so, specimens will be submitted to the authorities at Kew for the determina- tion of an interesting scientific question that has not yet been settled.

11. The vote placed at the disposal of this department to enable journeys of botanical research to be made in China has not been used this year; as in the first half of the financial year the hostilities between France and China greatly enhanced the danger of travelling in the interior, and Mr. FORD'S absence on leave during the latter half of the year precluded the possibility of any lengthened journey being made while there was only one European left to attend to the duties of the department. But in view of the understanding that it is one of the chief duties of the department to constantly endeavour to add to our knowledge of the flora of China, I have, in my spare time, made frequent journeys to the hills on the mainland adjacent to Hongkong, and have been fortunate in finding several plants new to science. In reference to these plants Mr. W. T. THISELTON DYER, C.M.G. the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew writes to say, 'Some of the plants you have collected prove to be of extraordinary interest and quite new; Mr. HEMSLEY has described some of the novelties in the Journal of Botany; one of the Aristolochias has been named after you.'

12. China is unquestionably a rich field for botanical research, and it is to be regretted that the Chinese Authorities have no organized means, in the way of a National Botanic Garden, of cultivating and distributing their innumerable vegetable products. Botanic Gardens of other countries would gratefully exchange the valuable economic plants at their disposal for Chinese novelties, and the benefit would be mutual. We have not received one plant from a Chinese source this year. Hongkong would be a convenient station for reciprocating favours from Chinese who might be disposed to intro- duce some of the resources of foreign horticulture, or agriculture, into China. We are gradually accumulating a large variety of plants of commercial value, a portion of which we would gladly dis- tribute amongst any of our Chinese friends who might be inclined to favour us with some of the interesting vegetable novelties of the Celestial Empire.

13. The 'Rhea' or 'China Grass,' Boehmeria nevia, seems to be exciting considerable interest amongst planters as a textile, and enquiries as to its cultivation and the means of procuring it have recently been made by local agents and by correspondents at a distance.

Living plants can be procured in quantity from squatters on the island and from adjacent villages on the mainland. The Chinese cultivate it on patches of the richest soil they can find, and supply it with strong manure water from their cesspools, from the time the shoots appear till they are nearly ripe.

Several correspondents have asked for seeds of the plant, but I may here mention that none of the squatters whom I have consulted on the subject have ever raised it, or seen it raised from seed, though it is possible to raise it in this way. The favourite Chinese method is to divide the roots into small clumps about four or five inches square and plant them out in prepared ground at a foot apart. In this way a crop can be got off the plants the first year. Seedlings would probably take several years before they reached a yielding condition. The plants are usually divided and planted out in February, but this can be done in a climate like that of Hongkong, at any season, if the plants are duly watered. 14. The sale of plants has been continued throughout the year. The total number sold being 2,169. The demand is not so large as might be anticipated, owing, no doubt, to a considerable number of the residents in the Colony being unaware that plants can be bought at the Gardens.

15. An interesting Amaryllidaceous plant, Agave Geminiflora, flowered during the year. The spike was twenty-five feet high and produced about two thousand flowers, but all the ovaries dropped off before the seed ripened. The plant still looks healthy and it will be interesting to find whether it will survive the strain of flowering, seeing that its attempt at reproduction has proved abortive.

16. The collection of animals has this year been augmented by two additional species of deer. The male and female deer which we have had for some time mated this year, and the doe gave birth to a young one which has grown well, and looks in healthy condition.

One of the Silver Pheasants and a Mandarin Duck were stolen, and one of the large Owls which has been in the Garden for many years was found dead in the cage; it was wounded in several places, having evidently been killed by some person of barbarous disposition who had poked it to death through the bars of the cage with a stick, or some sharp pointed instrument.

The Officers of H.B.M.S. "Flying Fish" have quite recently presented us with a fine young specimen of the Cassowary, Cassuarius becaurunculatus, a bird belonging to the Struthionideae or Ostrich family. It was procured I believe from the Moluccas.

17. The arrangement of the Herbarium being now complete, the work in this branch of the department has been confined to keeping the specimens in good condition, and augmenting the collection with new discoveries, and duplicates for exchange. The collection is accessible to the public, and any one who is studying the flora of South China will find the Herbarium of great assistance.

18. Correspondence has been dilligently carried on with kindred establishments, and with private persons who are interested in matters upon which it is in our power to give information.