, 1892-03-23

ly to the Botanical Department. Of
the utility to the public Of this com
bination of labour the Report is an
eloquent illustration, and we welcome
it heartily, for we have heard a sus-
picion rumoured, though, possibly, 1t
may be only a spitelul Islander on q
most a~ffectionately fraternal and mu-
tually helpful lot Of men, that it is not
a tradition of the Service that heads of
departments often manifest any very
strong desire to work tremendously,
much less hand-in. hand, together.
Though there are as maAy headings
as subjects, this second part Of the
Report falls naturally into three parts.
The first of these deals with the wea-
Their ard its influence on the agricul-
tural and forest industries during the
year the second, which occupies half
of the total number of pages, with
the cultivation and seminal propaga-
ton Of the sugar cane; and the
third with an enumeration Of the
mangoes, bananas and plaintains
cultivated at the Gardens, and
with several minor miscellaneous
subjects. The writers must have per-
celved that an air Of interest would
be required in their matter to induce
the public to wade through so much
detail, and this, as we have before
said, they, departing from the usual
official practice and tradition of the
Service, have managed in a large
measure to invest it with. Taking
these subjects in the order in which
they occur in the Report, though we
can only touch a paragraph here and
there, we will proceed with our re
view. The weather for the past two
wears seems to have been unusual,
owing to the excessively heavy rain,
which prejudicially affected both the
agricultural and fOrestindustries. This
is summarized in the opening para
graph =
The heavy rain which marked the latter
two-thirds Of the year 1889, continued through
the wear 1890. The fall Of 1889 had been
unprecedented in quantity, but unusually heavy
as that was, it was exceeded last year. In
tho first two months 1857 fell, which is near
Nv half the rainfall of an average year. March
was dry in the first but showery in the second
half. 2-38 in. falling in the time, The spring
dry season was theI efore practically confined
to q fortnight. instead Of the usual six or seven
weeks, April had the high level of 20-l1 in,
a quantity that is very rarely exceeded in
either December, january, May or June, which
are usually the wettest months, each two that
come together being the centre respectively Of
the two rainy seasons. From April to July
heavy rain was nearly continuous. with rare
intervals of one or more dry days together.
Dpring these four months there were twenty
such intervals, tho longest being five days.
Most of these gaps were periods of bright and
continuous sunshine, but in several OF the
shorter ones, though rain held up, the over
spreading clouds did not lift. This period in
which the greatest growth of the year as a
rule takes place, was disastrous to vegetation,
a general stagnation prevailing the whole
time. The total rainfall for the period was
SO 90 in. August and September showed q
beneficial change, light showers and bright
surshine prevailing. In the former there fell
ST. in twenty one days, ten being consequent
" entirely fine, and in the latter 3'l6 inches IN
eighteen days, twelve days being consequent
lv entirely fine. October was altogether
normal, slight showers occurring on only three
II -. ,.DJo~. kapfb nf an inch