3°4 



dens and estates of private persons at the various agricultural 

 shows. 



Tea. — I cannot find that there was any Tea grown in the Malay 

 Peninsula till MURTON introduced both Assam and Chinese Tea in 

 1877, when he distributed it to Sungei Ujong and other parts of the 

 Peninsula. 



Tea gardens were made by Sir HUGH Low on the Thaiping and 

 Hermitage Hills and those of the latter station produced, under the 

 management of Mr. COCK, a good deal of excellent produce till after 

 the death of Mr. COCK, the gardens were practically abandoned. 

 Tea w r as grown also successfully in Singapore, Johore and Malacca, 

 for some time, but though the shrub grows with the greatest ease and 

 readiness, almost anywhere, the ldw price of the product has never 

 tempted planters to lay out estates on a large scale. All the re- 

 corded varieties of Tea have been introduced by the Botanic Gardens 

 at one time or another, but the most suitable for cultivation has been 

 the Assam variety. Chinese Tea has seldom done well. 



SPICES. 



Nutmegs and Cloves were introduced into Penang by CHRISTO- 

 PHER SMITH, in 1796, and into Singapore, by Sir STAMFORD 

 Raffles, in 1822. The cultivation throve till i860, when a large 

 proportion of it was destroyed by disease as described in Bulletin 

 I, p. 99. It did not die out in Penang and Province Wellesley but 

 passed into native hands. 



One or two plantations of Nutmeg remained in Malacca till quite 

 lately, and Mr. ROBERT LITTLE started a plantation of Nutmegs 

 which did very well and Cloves less satisfactory in Singapore some 

 years ago. A few of the old trees of the Nutmeg plantations remained 

 in Singapore till the last few years, but I believe all are gone now. 



Pepper was cultivated in Malacca before 1583, and was exten- 

 sively cultivated in Penang and Singapore, Johore, Perak, etc., till a 

 few years ago, when owing to low prices and especially to the dis- 

 appearance of Gambir with which it was cultivated, chiefly due to 

 the failure of the firewood supply, the cultivation in Singapore was 

 abandoned. 



Cubebs.—Pfyer Cubeba were introduced by MURTON in 1877. 

 The price of the product was then high and the Dutch attempted 

 to keep the cultivation entirely in their own hands. It was impos- 

 sible to procure stock from them, in 1889, though attempts were 

 made to get fresh plants, a few years later, the price fell to so little 

 that the cultivation was abandoned all over the East. 



All-spice. — Pimento acris were introduced by MURTON in 1877, 

 but as has happened in many other parts of the world, it refused to 

 fruit here, so that the cultivation is practically confined to the West 

 Indies. 



Cardamoms were introduced by MURTON in 1875. The plant 

 however, requires some altitude to fruit well, and does not succeed 



