AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN 



OF THE 



STRAITS 



AND 



FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 



x o. 7.] JULY, 1907. [Vol. VI. 



CONIFERS CULTIVATED IN THE BOTANIC 

 GARDENS. 



The coniferous trees are for the greatest part confined to 

 the colder regions of the world, and are almost absent from hot 

 tropical regions though some occur on the loftier mountains of the 

 equatorial belt. The order is not however unrepresented in the 

 warmer parts of the tropics, and several species occur in the low 

 and country of the Malay Peninsula. As timber trees all that are 

 large enough are valued for their wood, while many including our 

 '"digenous Dammara supply the resin known as turpentine. As 

 ornamental plants also they will always be popular; their habit 

 trees gC contrastin g verv strongly with that of ordinary leafy 



A considerable number of these plants have been introduced 

 t V Cu 'tivation but of the exotic ones few thrive here owing to 

 hoi a ? d dam P ness of the climate. Some of the smaller ones, 



vvever, do very well as pot plants for house decoration and last 

 * 'ong time, but even the strongest of these, e.g., Thuia orientalis 

 ted out are shabby and grow but poorly. A number of 

 sJaH species hav e been from time to time introduced but these 

 ^ aoni survive the first heavy rains. Pinus longifolia from the 

 four l?^ n aS l0n S in tbe botanic Gardens. It grew to about 

 manv and remai ned thus looking very shabby for a good 



due tn' earS ' after which the P lants a11 died - 11 is P erha P s as much 

 do not H Un ^ ultabll{ ty of soil in the low country that these plants 

 P tfur ?° bet J er - As far as the genus Pinus is concerned perhaps 

 and P / Slam and Sumatra, P. inisularis of the Philippines, 

 miVht [1VT SI - of Cuba would be the most likely to do well, and 



The c lntrodu ced into our hill regions. 



°f doors J l PrCSS< r r s ex cept the Weeping Cypress do not do well out 



attack s Ven f * f ^ stand the hea ^ ra ' ns ' the y are SUbjeCt t0 

 b ^ due to t k° termite s and soon look shabby. This may in part 



man >- conifers povert y of the soil » which is reall y hardl y suited for 



