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With the large amount of useful work, both chemical and 
entomological, which lies to hand in agriculture in this country, 
the Department of Agriculture cannot be considered as adequately 
equipped for its work until it has its ovvn technical officers to 
devote themselves to the problems on which knowledge must be 
gained before progress can be made. A step in this direction 
has been definitely taken, and a Government Mycologist, Mr. 
W. J*. Gallagher, m.a., a distinguished student of plant 
pathology, has been appointed and will take up his duties early 
in 1907. 
The compilation of statistics relating to agriculture has been 
begun by the department as will be seen by the tables which are 
published in this report. Every effort has been made to make 
the figures accurate and dependable, but with a rapidly growing 
industry like rubber, and with a scattered native cultivation like 
coconut plantations, absolute accuracy is almost too much to 
hope for. The error may, however, be considered to be very 
slight, probably 5 per cent, at the outside, and it is not unlikely 
that as errors exist both in exaggeration and understating, that 
the figures given may be the mean. 
Soils and their Analysis. 
The subject of the physical and chemical properties of 
soils is, in an agricultural country, always of much interest and 
importance. 
Recent investigations have shown that there is another factor 
in the relative qualities of soils which is of equal or perhaps 
greater importance than the chemical and physical composition, 
and that factor is the biological condition of the soil. The 
abundance or deficiency of nitrifying bacteria or bacilli very 
largely influences the amount of plant food available in the soil. 
The investigation of soils from this point of view is a branch of 
science which is in its infancy, and methods have not as yet been 
invented which allow of comparatively rapid tests being made. 
A soil bacteriological laboratory has been initiated by Dr. 
Treub, the creator and Director of the Java Agricultural and 
General Science Investigation Station. From the work carried 
on in this new laboratory knowledge will be gained of great 
benefit to agriculture in Malaya. 
Biological investigation of local soils here will be carried on 
in the laboratories of the Department of Agriculture, Federated 
Malav States, when they are completed. 
Mr. M. Kelway Bamber, f.i.c., f.c.s., Government Chemist 
of Ceylon, and a well-known authority in tropical agriculture, 
during the past year paid a second visit to the Federated Malay 
