Palm House.—

The hot-water apparatus described in the Report for 1877 (pp. 10, 11, with plan and sections) has proved eminently successful, and there has been no drawback of any kind in its working. An equable and sufficient temperature has been obtained throughout the winter months, and the growth of the plants has been proportionately vigorous. The consumption of fuel is very moderate, and the stoking, though requiring more care than with ordinary boilers, is in no sense more complicated or onerous. The flow and return pipe which has been carried round the gallery is a novel feature in the heating of large houses, and in every respect a most important one; it not only (by heating the upper part of the house) checks the rapid absorption and loss of the heat given off from the pipes in the body of the house, but reduces very much the amount of drip in wet weather, which results from the condensation or vapour on the iron rafters. I feel satisfied that no plant-house of any considerable height, whether built of wood or of iron, should be unprovided with a flow and return pipe at an elevation of at least half the height of the building, both for the good of the plants, and the preservation of the material used in construction. The Palm House heating apparatus has been inspected by visitors interested in horticulture from all parts of the kingdom and the continent, including His Majesty the King of the Belgians.

The extensive collection of Bromeliaceæ, of which the bulk is to be found on the shelves of the east transept in the Palm House, has been carefully revised and catalogued by Mr. J. G. Baker, F.R.S., assistant keeper of the Herbarium. The list is attached to this Report as Appendix II., in continuation of the series of such catalogues which I promised in the Report for last year in which the Aroideæ were given.

Tropical Fern House (No. 2).—

The repairing and repainting of this important and popular house has again been postponed, and it is now fast passing into a condition which can only be described as ruinous. The rafters are extensively decayed, and in many places affected with dry rot. It is a matter well worthy of consideration whether some hard wood, such as teak or blue gum, could not be used in place of pine for the woodwork, which would be more durable under the moist conditions necessary for the cultivation of Ferns.

Mr. Peacock's Collection of Succulents.—

At the close of last year Mr. John T. Peacock of Sudbury House, Hammersmith, expressed a wish to exhibit in some public establishment his well-known and valuable collection of succulent plants. After consultation with the Board, it was decided to offer to Mr. Peacock for the purpose the South Octagon of the Temperate House. This proposal having been accepted, the collection has been deposited there by Mr. Peacock for a period of three, years. It is particularly rich in specimen plants and in species of Agave, in which respect it supplements the immense general collection already in the possession of the Royal Gardens.

The introduction of uncommon specimen trees along the paths is being proceeded with, and will soon become an important feature. These are provided with upright slate tallies, lettered in black on a white ground, which have been found to be the most economical and efficient kind of tally.