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
- ↑ My list contains at present 217 trees but is not complete.
