Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia/Series 1/Volume 3/The Agriculture of Singapore
MISCELLANEOUS.
AGRICULTURE OF SINGAPORE.
Singapore situated within little more than a degree of the Equator and without any tract of elevated land has a remarkable equality of climate and seasons. We feel but in a moderate degree the influence of the N. E. and S. W. Monsoons, and we have a mild rainy season of short duration in the commencement of the former, lasting from October to December. These changes however have little influence upon the vegetable creation, the plants are green throughout the year, and there is a perpetual succession of fruits and flowers. Thus every period of the year is suited for agricultural operations and they can be commenced and conducted in all. The climate at the same time is totally free from storms, hurricanes, or even violent gusts of wind, calculated to impede or overthrow the labors of the husbandman. Neither are those labors nor the personal safety of the cultivator likely to be endangered by the depredations of wild and ferocious animals; for the Tiger and Elephant, so pernicious to agriculture on Sumatra and the Malayan Continent, do not exist in Singapore or any other of the small islands, and the wild boar, another formidable depredator, is few in number. Hitherto at least these regions have to the best of our knowledge been free from the wide spreading depredations of those hosts of insects, such as the Locust, the Palmerworm, Hessianfly, &c. which devasted the plains of central Asia and America, taxing the labors of the husbandman to an inconceivable extent.
The soil of Singapore reposes upon a sand stone of old formation in which is found extensive beds of clay iron ore. The surface of the island consists for the most part of low hills from 100 to 150 feet in height. In a few situations on the coast there are long narrow plains; the soil of the latter is invariably sandy and sterile, fit only for the growth of weeds and tall trees. On the hills the soil is composed of the deluvium of the sand stone and clay iron ore, and its varieties depend upon the proportions in which these ingredients enter into its composition. On the summits of the hills the soil is commonly scanty, but on the sides, slopes and narrow valleys below, deep and abundant. There are no rich alluvial tracts in the island, for a sufficient reason that there are no considerable rivers calculated to give origin to them.
These brief notices of the soil and climate lead us to a consideration of those articles of husbandry which are suited or otherwise to the growth of the island. In the first place it must be obvious that the absence of extensive alluvial plains and of a command of water to irrigate them renders the island totally unfit for the growth of rice, a commodity which can never be cheaply brought to market except where those advantages exist. We may venture to assert that the soil of Singapore is equally unsuited for the production of Coffee. To afford this article cheaply and at the same time of a good quality, a rich black mould and a tract of country elevated if near the Equator to at least one thousand feet above the level of the sea, appear to be indispensable. The Coffee of Arabia is not produced in the sandy deserts of that country but in rich valleys and among the mountains. It is only the most fertile countries of the Archipelago, Java, Luconia, and the mountain districts of favored parts of Sumatra, which have hitherto afforded this commodity.
Cotton, Sugar-cane, Indigo, the Cacoa, Mulberry and Tobacco, every one of which require a strong rich soil, are eminently ill-suited to the poor red soil of the hills of Singapore. The same sentence may be pronounced on the growth of the finer spices, the Clove and Nutmeg, which, whatever opinion sanguine speculators may have entertained to the contrary, it is now pretty generally acknowledged cannot be raised in cheapness and perfection suited to the demands of a free market except in the spice islands themselves. The soil and climate of Singapore is perfectly adapted to the production of all the tropical fruits—the Cocoanut, the Orange of many species and varieties, the Mangoe which is found wild in the forest, the Mangustin, Durian, Duku and Pine-apple. It is rather climate than soil that is required by such productions as these, and it appears singular, and a fact yet unexplained in vegetable physiology, that whilst the poorest wilds are sufficient for the growth not only of the profuse and luxuriant plants which afford the rich fruits in question, but also for that of the most stupendous trees of the forest, the richest are indispensable to the successful culture of the lowly plants which afford the principal necessaries of life.
Besides fruits the soil of Singapore is perfectly well adapted to the growth of all those green esculent plants and farinaceous roots which are natural to a tropical climate—such as different varieties of cucumber, the egg plant, different pulses, the yam, the batata and many others. The common garden pea of Europe may probably be raised with care, but it will be in vain that we attempt the culture of cabbage, cauliflower, artichoke or potatoe. These are not raised in Java, or Cubu or St. Domingo or Jamaica at a less elevation than 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, and in our situation so much nearer the Equator would probably require 4,000. We are of opinion that the only staple articles which the soil of Singapore is capable of raising with advantage are Gambier or Terra Japunica and Black Pepper.
The above paper appeared in the Singapore Chronicle twenty-five years ago. In the main we fear that its condemnation of the soil of Singapore is too well founded. The sagacity of the writer has been proved by the fact that several of the productions for which he declares Singapore unsuited have been tried and failed. Or if the failure has not been decided the results have been so little satisfactory that there appears no probability of the experiments being repeated. It would be instructive if those planters who have tried Coffee, Cotton, and Cacao would place on record the results. of their attempts to introduce the cultivation of these plants. Of Sugar cane we say nothing because one of the only two plantations that have ever been formed still exists, and we see a new chimney rising in Pyah Lebar.
The soil is much more varied than it was supposed to be in former years, and so far from consisting entirely of decomposed sandstone and clay iron ore, contains a plutonic tract of about 60 square miles, and another in which shales predominate (ante Vol. II p. 100, 140 &c.). The following is extracted from a paper on the Geology of the Straits of Singapore presented by us to the Geological Society:
Although the soils of the district have not the fertility of the volcanic and calcareous soils which occur in many parts of the Indian Archipelago, they are covered with an indigenous vegetation of great vigour and luxuriance, supporting numbers of animals of different species. The hills of plutonic rock support dense and continuous forests composed of more than 200 species of trees[1], many of which are of great size. So long as the iron is not in such excess as to recompose the clay into stone or render it hard, those soils which contain most iron are most fertile. The purely or highly felspathie are the worst. But even felspathic soils, when intermixed with a sufficient proportion of quartz, are, in this climate, capable of producing an abundant vegetation. Although it is obvious to every observer that there is no kind of soil in the district for which nature has not provided plants that flourish luxuriantly in it, yet it must not be hastily concluded, as some have done, that this exuberant vegetation indicates a general fertility in the soil. It is found, on the contrary, when the native plants are destroyed and the land is employed for agriculture, that there are very few soils in which cultivated plants not indigenous to the region, but whose climatic range embraces it, will flourish spontaneously. While the cocoanut, betelnut, sago, gomuti and the numerous Malayan fruits succeed well with little care, the nutmeg and clove are stunted and almost unproductive, unless constantly cultivated and highly manured. Yet the climate is perfectly adapted for them. Place them in the rare spots where there is naturally a fertile soil, or create one artificially, and the produce is equal to that of trees in the Molucca plantations. With respect to indigenous plants, gambier, pepper and all the fruit trees flourish on the plutonic hills, provided they are not too deficient in iron and quartz. The hills of violet shale, where they are not too sandy, are equal to the best plutonic soils: those namely in which there is a sufficient proportion of hard granules to render them friable, and sufficient iron to render them highly absorptive of water without becoming plastic. Of all the sedimentary soils the sandstone and very arenaceous shales furnish the worst. Of the alluvial soils, the sand, particularly when it contains a mixture of vegetable matter or triturated shells, is the proper soil of the cocoanut, and the vegetable mud of the sago. When the country has been better and longer drained and cultivated, the latter soil will become a rich mould. At present it is every where too wet and sour to make a fertile soil. Rice is grown on some patches of it. The bluish sea mud contains good ingredients, but clay is in excess, and the animal matter in it appears to assist in rendering it hard and untractable when it is not saturated with water. Even for such a soil nature has provided plants useful to man, for the betelmut and some of the indigenous fruit trees grow well in it with little cultivation. Although there are cultivated plants adapted to every kind of soil in the district, and it has indigenous tribes who can live exclusively on its yams, sago, fish and wild animals, it is incapable of feeding a population of the more civilised races, and the latter must always be dependent on other countries for the great necessary of life—rice.
The rocks which are used for economical purposes are not numerous. The only edible one is the fine clay called ampo, which is made into thin cakes, smoked and kept for use. The iron gravel and rocks have, during late years, been extensively used for metalling the roads in and near town. They soon acquire a compact, and hard smooth surface. The plutonic rocks and the indurated sandstones and conglomerates are used for the foundations of houses. Lateritic stones are sometimes used by the Malays as pedestals for the posts on which their small houses rest. Granite is used for steps, mile stones, tomb stones, &c. Of the blueish alluvial clays the bricks and tiles are made of which the town of Singapore is built. The fine kaolin which abounds has been found the best adapted of any in India for the manufacture of porcelain, but no manufactory has ever been established.[2]
- ↑ My list contains at present 217 trees but is not complete.
- ↑ See Dr O'Shaughnessy's Report of experiments made by him for Government. The following is an extract. "Singapore Clays: By far the best clay I have met, is that given me by Captain Halsted, and which he procured at Singapore. It occurs as I am informed, close to the beach, and the Messrs Lackersteen of Calcutta inform me, it can he brought to Calcutta for six annas the maund. This clay is found in thick strata. The detached masses are of a pink tint, broken into they contain nodules of perfectly white earth. They absorb water eagerly, and yield an exceedingly soft, ductile, and tenacious paste. On firing, this clay is found to resist a temperature sufficient to fuse English blue pots. The vessels made from the coarsest parts of this clay are strong, hard, of a beautiful and rich crimson colour. Specimen.The picked clay gives a snow-white biscuit; unpicked and simply worked up as it is dug, it gives a light yellow stoneware of the very best kind, as far as density, hard-ness, strength, lightness, and colour are concerned."