AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN 



OF TH.K 



5TRAIT5 



AND 



PEDERATED riALAY STATES. 



No. 6.! JUNE 1911. |V<>i,. X 



THE DROUGHT SPELL 



The remarkable spell of drv:)LiR"ht during th3 present year hcu^ 

 attracted the attention of most people in Singapore. In the Botanic 

 Gardens the rainfall ceased on the 19th of January, and with the 

 exception of half a dozen falls at long intervals no rain has fallen till 

 Ma}^ At the same time the heat has been very great. Such a period 

 of rainlessness, though not unprecedented in the Colony, is of veryM^-iae 

 occurrence, for Mr. Knight, who has a good record of the rainfalls 

 for many years, shows that similar occurrences have been known 

 before. •.- ' ' • ' 



As usually happens in our dry spells, the sky is rarely cloudless 

 for more than a few hours at a time, but the clouds instead of collect- 

 ing and producing rain, pass on usually northwards. During part, of 

 the time when the drought in the Gardens was at its worst, heavy 

 clouds with thunder and lightning were seen each afternoon on Bukit 

 Timah, our only wooded hill, with an altitude of five hunjdred feet, 

 and heavy rain fell there, and it was probably due to this that the 

 reservoirs showed during this period no great falling off in water 

 supply, giving an illustration to those who need it of the importance 

 of conserving forested hills in the tropics untouched. 



In May, travelling up throuL^h lohore, I was told that about 

 Sedenak they had no rain to speak of since January 14th, but at 

 Labis I met rain and evidently it had been regular, and at Batu Anaiu 

 rain had been falling well every day or so. A theory had been started 



