THE 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. XXXVIII, COLOMBO, FEBRUARY 15th, 1912, Wo. 2. 



THE AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN OF 

 THE STRAITS AND FEDERATED 

 MALAY STATES. 



It is with considerable regret we read 

 in the valedictory slip issued with the 

 December number of the above journal 

 that, with Mr. H. N. Ridley's retirement 

 from the Directorship of the Singapore 

 Gardens, the publication of the Straits 

 Bulletin comes to an end after a useful 

 existence extending over upwards often 

 years. 



In our expression of regret we may lay 

 claim to a certain measure of altruism, 

 since Mr. Ridley's Bulletin was one of 

 the very few periodicals which could be 

 regarded as in any way a rival to the 

 Tropical Agriculturist. If the opinions 

 expressed in the two papers have not 

 always been in complete accord, the in- 

 tention of each has invariably been 

 directed to furthering the best interests 

 of agriculture in the tropics. On the 

 occasion of the demise of the smaller jour- 

 nal we can give voice whole-heartedly 

 to our sympathy with the planting com- 

 munity of Malaya in its bereavement, 

 and our hope that a competent and 

 sufficiently disinterested person may 

 soon be found to step into the gap caused 

 in tropical agricultural literature by Mr. 

 Ridley's departure. 



Mr. Ridley has expressed bis regret at 

 the small bulk of the Bulletin, but this 



has not been an unmixed disadvantage ; 

 and when we recall the fact that a 

 majority of the articles which have 

 appeared in it have been from the pen 

 of the editor himself, we are tilled with 

 admiration at the energy devoted by 

 the late Director of the Singapore 

 Gardens to what was after all quite a 

 subsidiary occupation. 



Mr. Ridley assumed the post of 

 Director of Botanic Gardens in the 

 Straits Settlements in the year 1888, and 

 his unremitting labours in the field of 

 systematic botany have recently been 

 recognised by the Fellowship of the 

 Royal Society and by the title of C.M.G. 



The Agricultural Bulletin oj the Straits 

 and Federated Malay States began life 

 iu its present form in 1902, as the result 

 of Mr. Ridley's individual enterprise, its 

 object being to put the planters of the 

 Federated Malay States and Straits 

 Settlements in touch with scientific 

 developments bearing upon the products 

 which they cultivated. As Mr. Ridley 

 points out, there are upwards of two 

 hundred publications in existence which 

 deal with tropical cultivations in all 

 kinds of languages. We may add that 

 only a few of them share the advantage 

 enjoyed by the Agricultural Bidletin of 

 being edited by a man of science of re- 

 cognised eminence, with the result that 

 in turning over the pages of many such 



