3J0 
Sir— As it may interest you, and as I have not heard of anyone 
making a trial of planting Cotton about the Straits, I send you a 
line thereon, in April last {1892) I picked a few seeds of what 
I was told was Sea Island Cotton from a garden : I sowed the seed 
in drills, when the plants were about six inches high, I pulled them 
up and transplanted them at six feet apart on tobacco-land planted 
in 1891. The ground was chankolled over before putting in the 
Cotton plants; the Cotton plants took root at once ; 1 had only to 
replant about five or six plants and have had no further trouble 
except cleaning the grass twice. The amount planted is about an 
acre, the plants have now grown so that the spaces between are 
quite filled up and are from five to seven feet high. Flowering has 
been going on for some time and some of the larger bolls are as 
large as my thumb, so I will have a sample of Cotton before long. 
The only enemy the plants seemed to have was a small grub of 
rough reddish appearance which eat into the stem near the tip 
which withered, but other shoots came out strong and the plant did 
not seem to suffer from it. It may be that the grub will attack the 
bolls and destroy the cotton. Of course the planting was not in 
the right season, as I suppose the wet weather just coming on will 
spoil a lot of the cotton ; and the plants should be planted much 
further apart, perhaps ten by six feet, which would leave room to get 
between the rows. I do not think it is the usual way to transplant 
the cotton plants but it seems to me the simplest way and the 
easiest 
In November 1892 Mr. Taylor sent some samples of Cotton 
grown by the Batlaks in Sumatra to the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, 
and they were forwarded to the Incorporated Chambrr of Com- 
m- rre Liverpool for report, and Mr. H. BARNES the Secretary 
replied, February 1 8th, 1893: 
Dear Sir,— — “ I received your letter dated 29th November, advis- 
ing sample of Battak Cotton grown in Sumatra which came duly 
to hand. I have submitted a portion of the sample to the Liverpool 
Cotton Association who have furnished me with the annexed report 
upon the same which l trust may be of service and may stimulate 
production of cotton, * * * 
I am, etc., 
Report: “The sample of cotton sent from the Botanic Garden, 1 
Singapore, has been carefully examined by our Committee and they 
report that in its present condition the cotton would be worth about 
lid. per lb. but if ginned owing to its rough staple it would be 
worth 4! to $d. per lb. valued on the present basis of prices”. 
The Liverpool Cotton association weekly circular shows that at 
that date the demand for cotton was limited and the market 
generally dull. Ordinary cottons being quoted at from 2 1 to 6jf. 
On April 2nd, 1893, Mr. TAYLOR writes in reply to the letter 
containing the above report: — ■“ It is a pity (the cotton) was not a 
sample of what l grew myself which was much better. During the 
