AGRICULI  URAL  BULLETIN 
OF  THE 
STRAITS 
AND 
FEDERATED  MALAY  STATES. 
No.  10.]  OCTOBER,  1903.  [Vol.  II. 
COTTON. 
As  some  interest  has  lately  been  shown  in  the  Cultivation  of 
Cotton  in  the  Malay  peninsula  a few  notes  on  the  subject  may  not 
be  out  of  place.  Attempts  have  been  made  at  intervals  for  many 
years  to  cultivate  the  different  species  and  varieties  of  Cotton  plants 
in  many  parts  of  this  'region,  not  only  by  Europeans  l)ut  also  by 
Malays,  and  in  Sumatra  by  the  Battaks.  It  has  also  been  cultivated 
experimentally  in  the  Botanic  Gardens  at  Singapore  and  Malacca. 
In  the  latter  gardens  the  first  crop  was  fairly  good,  but  the  soil  was 
too  poor  and  the  next  attempt  was  a failure. 
In  1889,  a sample  of  Cotton  received  from  Jelebu  was  forwarded 
to  the  Royal  Gardens  Kew,  for  examination  and  was  submitted  by 
the  authorities  there  to  Messrs.  John  BradOCK  & Co.  ii  Com- 
mercial  Sale  rooms,  Mincing  Lane,  who  reported  May  7,  1889  : 
“ The  sample  of  Cotton  submitted  to  us  shows  a very  good  style, 
white,  clear,  free  from  seed  with  fair  staple.  It  would  find  a ready 
market  at  from  6^  to  yd.  per  lb.  It  appears  to  be  handpicked  from 
the  pod  but  to  make  the  article  profitable  it  would  we  think  re- 
quire proper  machinery  to  extract  the  seed  and  otherwise  to  clean 
the  Cotton  ready  for  market  to  be  able  to  compete  with  American 
and  other  Cotton  growing  Countries”. 
Mr.  (now  Sir)  D.  MORRIS  of  Kew  Gardens  notes  on  this:  “ This 
report  is  very  satisfactory  as  far  as  it  goes  and  if  labour  is  cheap 
it  might  be  well  worth  while  growing  it”. 
In  1900,  Mr.  H.  C.  Rendle  of  Fetaling  Estate  wrote:  “I  have 
just  sent  home  a few  pods  of  Cotton  which  I believe  is  more  or  less 
indigenous  to  South  America  and  have  received  a very  good  report 
on  it.  I first  noticed  it  growing  in  a Malay  garden  at  Klang.  I 
planted  the  seed  near  my  bungalow  and  in  about  6 months  got 
ripe  pods.  The  Cotton  was  valued  at  3d  to  6d  per  lb.  and  the  seed 
;^5.iO  per  ton’’. 
An  interesting  series  of  letters  as  to  the  cultivation  of  Cotton  in 
Deli,  Sumatra,  was  received  from  Mr.  J.  A.  Taylor  in  1892-1893. 
His  first  letter  runs  as  follows  : 
