450 ANNTJAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1955 



some of these swampy lowlands have been diked, and the development 

 of paddy (lowland rice) agriculture has been under way.^° Not far 

 away to the south, across the Java Sea is Java, a much smaller island 

 than Borneo but with at least 50 volcanoes, many of which are magnifi- 

 cent mountains. A considerable number of these volcanoes have been 

 active in modern times, some within the last few years, spreading rock 

 powder over the countryside, so that many of the soils are still very 

 young and have physically good conditions, as well as abundant 

 amounts of plant nutrients. Moreover, the natural or geologic erosion 

 and creep have been considerable and have gradually helped the sur- 

 face soil to move on down into the lowlands and toward the sea before 

 it becomes senile and devoid of most of the plant nutrient substances 

 that had weathered out from the parent rock minerals. Thus the non- 

 volcanic rocks are also, for the most part, covered with soils that are at 

 least reasonably productive. The population on Java is overwhelm- 

 ingly agricultural and where irrigation is available the farmers follow 

 very intensive methods of plant production. The population on Java 

 per square mile is at least a hundred times as great as on Borneo. 

 This is possible because the soil resources of Java are such that even a 

 denser population than this can certainly be supported on the land. 

 By contrast, the crop-producing potentialities of the soils of Borneo 

 are very limited. 



THAILAND (SIAM) 



Thailand, a relatively small country in southeast Asia, lies between 

 Burma and Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam. The area of Thailand is 

 somewhat greater than that of California but less than that of Texas. 

 Much of Siam is too poor to grow upland crops, that is, nonirrigated 

 crops. Wliere the forest has been reasonably good, the general prac- 

 tice has been to kaingin the land and grow a crop of sugarcane, com 

 (maize) , cucurbits, or similar crops on the land so cleared. "Where the 

 forest is poorer, upland crops are grown only on the larger termite 

 heaps, which may be as much as 10 feet high and 20 feet across at the 

 base. In some cases, the termitaria are truncated somewhat to give a 

 larger, flattish garden plot on which can be grown sugarcane for chew- 

 ing, tomatoes, tobacco, pineapple, papaya, and other upland crops. It 

 should be noted that the wise Thai farmer never levels the mound 

 completely.^^ 



Where the land can be flooded and the water held on it, at least dur- 

 ing the rainy season, the soil is stirred, puddled, and seedling lowland 



^ C. L. van Wi.1k, Soil survey of the tidal swamps of South Borneo in connection 

 with the agricultural possibilities, Contr. Gen. Agr. Res. Stat., No. 123, pp. 1-49, 

 June 1951, Bogon. 



" Pendleton, Robert L., Some results of termite activity in Thailand soils, Thai 

 Scl. Bull., vol. 3, pp. 29-53, 12 figs., map, 1941 ; Importance of termites in modifying 

 certain Thailand soils, Journ. Amer. Soc. Agron., voL 34, pp. 340-344, 3 figs., 1942. 



