rainy season, November and December, as I found the trees produc- 
ing cotton which was only spoilt by the rain I cut off all the 
branches to about one or two feet from the main stem. They are 
now beginning to flower again so by the time the dry weather is on 
the Cotton will begetting ripe. I do not suppose that cotton cultiva- 
tion will pay in Sumatra as labour is dear here, nor do 1 think the 
seasons will suit as the plants keep growing and flowering all the 
year. 
I w rote to and received from America what they said was Sea- 
Island cotton seed. 1 planted the seed only about a month ago and 
it is now about l| feet high and has begun to flower and the plants 
look weidy, and I conclule that what l planted bef re was n >t 
Sea-Islan 1 though the leaf and general appearance is t he same' 1 . 
These reports are fairly satisfactory, but of course are only ex- 
perimental plots, and it might be well worth while planting it on a 
larger scale in the richer soils of such places as Klang district, and 
the low lands about Taiping. The absence of a distinct rlrv sea- 
son for the bolls to ripen is certainly against the cultivation ; heavy 
rainstorms at the period of ripening injure if they do n t quite 
destroy the cotton. The plant here in Singapore at least flowers 
and fruits throughout the year, so that the crop is practically con- 
tinuous, and cannot be gathered all at once as is done in Brazil and 
elsewhere, and this must occasion a greater expenditure of labour. 
T he present expense of labour and its scarcity is ag linst cultiva- 
tion of cotton on a large scale for it it is distinctly a crop which 
requires cheap labour. As to local pests, termites were certainly 
troublesome in Malacca, chiefly by packingthe soil with ilieir nests, 
but it must be remarked that the soil was really too stiff anyway 
and not that which would have been selected had there been any 
choice. The red cotton bug, Dysdercus cingnlatus is very common, 
feeding usually here on Urena lobata , the herbaceous Hihisci and 
other Alalvace.T . Damage has been done to cotton in India by the 
bug sucking the bolls. It is allied to another species which is 
known as the cotton stainer in America, which discolors the cotton 
also by destroying the seed and staining the cotton with its excre- 
ment. There is a short account of our species in the first series of 
the Bulletin p. 272 . I certainly have not noticed that it does much 
harm to the plants which it feedson, but it is a very objectionable 
animal, and might give a good deal of trouble. 
These notes perhaps do not give a very encouraging view of the 
possibility of cultivation of cotton on a large scale in the Malay 
peninsula, even as a catch crop, but I should certainly like to si e 
the cultivation tried again in better soil than we had at our disposal 
at the time that these experiments were made in the Straits Settle- 
ments and with other varieties of Cotton. The importance of Cot- 
ton cultivation throughout the ffmpire at the present time cannot 
be overrated, and if we cannot here produce it in very large quan- 
tities we can at least supply some, and that I think at a ra^c which 
will produce a fair return for the cost of cultivation. 
Editor* 
