African Nationhood

Chapter 245 Singapore Botanic Gardens
  "Bah~~~"

Wang Zhongyi spit out the dust in his mouth and then began to dust himself off.

The dirt roads here in Singapore were so dusty that it got all over him.

After getting off the carriage, Wang Zhongyi and the Straits Settlements government officials who accompanied him came to the gate of the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

A gray-haired white man stood at the door. When he saw the two people arriving, he stretched out his withered hands to shake hands with them with a smile on his face.

After the introduction by the colonial officials, the old white man knew that the young Chinese in front of him was the new boss of the botanical garden. He introduced himself to Wang Zhongyi with a smile.

"Hello, Mr. Wang, I am Henry Morton, the current director of the Botanical Garden."

This old white man is a botanist. He has taken over the position of director since the Straits Settlements government took over the place in 1875.

“The predecessor of the Singapore Botanic Gardens can be traced back to a small experimental botanical garden built on Fort Canning Hill by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles in 1822.

Later, after several expansions, this large garden covering an area of ​​75 hectares was finally built at its current location (Tanglin District, Singapore).

Due to the poor management of the previous garden directors and heavy debts, the Straits Settlements government took over the garden in 1875.

Although horticultural gardens are productive, their economic benefits are not very high, so the colonial government's financial allocation for this has been insufficient over the years. "

After listening to Henry Morton's introduction, Wang Zhongyi nodded.

"Well, our Tropical Agriculture Company acquired this place to improve its research and development capabilities. After all, the company is very short of professional scientific researchers."

The colonial official nodded, "It is also a good thing for the botanical garden that your company has such courage, and the horticulturists and workers in the botanical garden will be handed over to your company for management."

The other party's words made Wang Zhongyi very uncomfortable. The company was taking advantage of him by asking him to acquire this place, and the Straits Settlements government got rid of a big burden.

He turned directly to the old white man and said, "Mr. Morton, take us around inside."

……

Wang Zhongyi's work in Sumatra was not satisfactory because black laborers were not acclimatized to the soil and environment, resulting in a large number of deaths, and the construction of tropical plantations in Sumatra was also very slow.

In order to ensure the progress of agricultural plantations in Sumatra, he tried his best to control the problem of acclimatization of black workers, and the death trend of black workers was greatly slowed down.

But after he reported the results of his efforts to the company, he received an order from the company asking him to come to Singapore to acquire this vast botanical garden.

The plantation business in Sumatra was temporarily handed over to Zheng Ming, whom he had always looked down upon.

This made Wang Zhongyi very depressed, so he set foot on the land of Singapore gloomily.

“The botanical garden covers an area of ​​74 hectares, and the southernmost end of the park is about 2.5 kilometers from the northernmost end.

There are more than 20000 subtropical and tropical exotic flowers and precious trees in the park, which can be divided into tropical and subtropical evergreen trees, palms, bamboo garden flowers, aquatic plants, bog plants, parasitic plants and desert plants, including Many endangered breeds.

The entire park is divided into two parts, the park and the plant center.

The park is the main plant planting area, while the Botanical Center is the various office areas and research centers of the botanical garden. Including the Botanical History Museum, Botanical Library, and Herbarium are all there. "

After listening to Director Morton's introduction, Wang Zhongyi's contempt gradually faded. The research value here is indeed very high, especially the 11 rubber trees here.

It is an important tree species that Mr. Shi personally told to pay special attention to. He received a personal letter from Mr. Shi before coming. The most important purpose of his trip was to test the rubber tree tapping method.

After walking around the park, Wang Zhongyi saw off the colonial officials and then followed Director Morton to the Botanical Center.

The main office building of the Botanical Center is a European-style bungalow covering an area of ​​more than 500 square meters. The welcome area at the entrance is filled with horticulturists of different ages. Wang Zhongyi’s tall body surprised the mostly white horticulturists.

Everyone looked at the new boss, making Wang Zhongyi feel like he was welcomed by everyone.

Henry Morton said to everyone: "This Mr. Wang is the new director of our botanical garden. If you have any questions in the future, you can go to him directly to solve them.

After the handover, I was ready to return to my hometown. "

This arrangement was requested by the company. Wang Zhongyi also believed that after taking over the place, the British influence on the botanical garden must be eliminated as soon as possible. He introduced himself to everyone in fluent English, "Hello everyone, I am King Zhongyi. From now on, you can call me Principal Wang or my English name, Peter."

Many horticulturists applauded to show their support for the new director. After the welcome ceremony, Wang Zhongyi followed Henry Morton to the office of the Botanical Garden.

This office covers an area of ​​thirty square meters, but most of the space is filled with books and reports, and there are even places where you can see scattered plant specimens.

Wang Zhongyi couldn't help but be full of contempt for this old white man, who was not organized at all.

Henry Morton handed over the Botanical Garden's current accounts, keys to various venues, personal information of the Botanical Garden's horticulturists, staffing tables, and the Botanical Garden's land deeds and other important documents one by one.

"It may take some time to move my collection of books. I hope you can give me some time."

Wang Zhongyi nodded, "Is one week enough? I can go to the venue where the plant specimens are stored to work first."

Henry Morton expressed his gratitude to Wang Zhongyi for his kindness, "Thank you, that's enough."

Wang Zhongyi picked up various materials and left the director's office, and then walked towards the herbarium.

When he walked along the cobblestone path to the herbarium, he had to try to open the door with his foot because his hands were full of documents and it was difficult to open the door.

He tried several times but failed. He was about to give up and put down the documents in his hand when a small white hand stretched out from behind him and opened the door for him.

Wang Zhongyi turned around to look, and a quiet and graceful little white face appeared in his eyes, and his heart beat twice inadvertently.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, I'm Louise, your employee."

Wang Zhongyi nodded blankly, "Oh, oh, hello, what is your job here?"

"Yes, please come in."

"Well, well, help me find an empty room. I'll be working there for a few days."

Louise smiled and nodded, "Okay, please come with me."

Wang Zhongyi looked at the slim figure of the young woman walking over and took a deep breath.

It's not like working here is all fruitless, he thought, and then quickly followed Louise's footsteps.

……

After several days of sorting, Wang Zhongyi sorted out the relationships between the characters in the botanical garden, paying particular attention to Louise's personal information.

It was a sunny day and the temperature was not hot. He decisively walked out of the temporary office of the Standards Library and came to the specimen preparation room, where he saw Louise making pictures and texts of plant specimens.

He looked at it for a while and found that Louise's brushwork was very skillful, and she could accurately grasp the characteristics of the painted objects in just a few strokes.

"Nice technique!"

Louise looked up and saw that it was Wang Zhongyi. She raised her hand and brushed the golden hair on her forehead, "Thank you for the compliment. What can I do for you?"

Wang Zhongyi shook his head and said, "I'm tired of reading the information. Can you accompany me for a walk in the garden? I just came here and I'm not familiar with it yet."

Louise noticed the panic in the man's eyes, and she had a suspicion in her mind, and then she put away the work at hand.

"Okay, I'll take you there. What do you want to see? Swan Lake is very nice there. There are plants and various birds."

Wang Zhongyi shook his head, "I read the information and said that there are 11 very old rubber trees planted in the garden. Can you take me to see them?"

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  (End of this chapter)