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Singapore. Surely when this was proposed, neither the Engineer nor 
the Medical Health Officer had in mind the state of vegetable cultiva- 
tion ip the Colony, The bulk of our population consists of people, 
whose ftaod is principally a mixture of rice x and vegetables. Without 
the nighrSeoil removed from town the numberless vegetable guardens 
in the country must be abandoned. The result will inevitably be that 
vegetables 
if there is dan b 
be increased, s 
these foreign grow^ ’s 
disposal of excreta 
vegetable growers — 1 
different depots in 
gardens. The risks 
not great inasmuch as 
it is put to the soil. 
be grown in Johore and elsewhere — Rliio perhaps and 
in the use of such matter, the risks of infection will 
e our sanitary authorities cannot possibly control 
It seems to us that the most useful method of 
r this Colony — in view of the urgent needs of 
ome scientific means of treating the manure in 
country and then distributing it to the 
of Jus form of manure carrying infection are 
ight-soil is thoroughly fermented before 
n easily conceive of its utilization in an 
manner without pff ending the taste of even the most 
appropriate 
fastidious. 
Without some good manure? it is not easy to raise plants on such 
exhausted soil as forms the habitat of lalang as a rule. This much 
maligned grass is in our opinion a friend to man in disguise. When 
the soil is composed principally of day — and the surface humus lias 
been all washed away, there are very few plants that can grow on it. 
But such land is sooner or later invaded'^ y lalang — whose underground 
stems penetrate deeply, and ramify in all directions. In this way the 
surface soil is broken up. As The grass grows up and dies down, a 
quantity of organic debris bpgins to collec^, and in course of time, 
affords a suitable nidus for the growth oimhrubs and forest trees. 
If it were not for the lalang, the afforestation of. such waste land would 
take a very long time indeed. But unfortunately lalang is very treach- 
erous to get rid off, and/fs very fatal to the growth of young plants. 
There are very few tree seedlings, that can survive in the struggle for 
existence. Even sugh hardy trees as the coconut palms become sallow 
and sickly and eventually stunt and die. Para Eulber trees make a 
brave struggle, and if there is enough humus in the soil, soon outgrow 
the lalang, and iff closely planted may force the latter to die out on 
account of the.shade. \ 
jr ■ 
The method of stamping out the lalang must be carried out 
systematically. As soon as an acre or so of the land has heen 
ploughed,., holes 3’ X 3‘ are dug out at about 20’ intervals, and filled 
with manured humus, the seeds of labu — the bottle gourd, or of 
other species of quickly growing acucurbita are sown. The young 
plants quickly spread all over the ground. In the meantime, the 
ground is turned up a second time, the stems of lalang being Biro wn 
upf collected and burned. 
In a couple cf months, the gourd has flowered and withered away. 
Again, the land is hoed, and then as a rule some atropaceous plant 
■such as chillies or egg-plants are planted in beds. The ground i l{ s 
• by this time well freed of lalang, and is scrupulously weeded. The 
young plants, replanted usually from a nursery, are manured with a 
diluted mixture of ripened excreta and water daily or thrice weekly. 
