744 
GENERAL REPORT OF THE RESIDENCY OF SINGAPORE, DRAWN 
UP PRINCIPALLY WITH A VIEW OF ILLUSTRATING ITS 
Agricultural Statistics.* 
By J. T. Thomsom Esq. e. r, g. s. Surveyor to Government. 
Relative Quality of Soil. The rankness of vegetation is 
apt to mislead us in regard to the nature of the soil, when we judge 
of its quality. On this subject Marsden, the eminent historian of 
Sumatra,f remarks of that island whose formation and climate is 
nearly if not quite analogous to that of the Malayan peninsula and 
adjacent islands; “that he cannot help saying that the soil of Suma- 
“ tra is generally more sterile than rich,” Again, he continues— 
“ Every person who has attempted to make on Sumatra a garden 
ee of any kind must know how ineffectual a labour it would prove to 
“ attempt turning up with a spade a piece of ground adopted at 
“ random. It becomes necessary for this purpose to form an 
“ artificial soil of dung, ashes, rubbish and such other materials as 
“ can be procured. From such alone he can expect to raise the 
“ smallest supply of vegetables for the table. The natives it is 
“ true, without much or any cultivation raise some useful trees and 
ee plants ; but they are in very small quantities immediately about 
u their villages, where the earth is fertilized in spite of their indo- 
t{ lence by the common sweepings of their houses and streets' and 
“ the mere vicinity of their buildings. 1 have often had occasion 
a to observe in young plantations, that those few trees that sur- 
<{ rounded the house of the owner or the hut of the keeper eonsider- 
iC ably overtopped their brethren of the same age. Every person at 
“ first sight, and on a superficial view of the Malay countries, 
“ pronounces them the favorites of nature, where she has lavished 
“ all her bounties with a profusion unknown in other regions, and 
“ laments the infatuation of the people who neglect to cultivate the 
“ finest soil in the world. But I have scarcely known one, t\ t 1io, 
“ after a few years residence has not entirely altered his opinion, 
u Certain it is that in point of external appearance the Malay islands 
tl and Sumatra among the rest may challenge the world to a com¬ 
parison.” The historian may have taken extreme views regarding 
the sterility of the soil of Sumatra, but he proves that where the 
indigenous forests attain their full height and luxuriance as in Sin¬ 
gapore, the soil may still be of a poor description, and though since 
he wrote, the most valuable of our staple products, nutmegs, have 
been successfully raised at Bencoolen, the capital of the late British 
settlements in Sumatra, still this should have little weight when we 
consider that its cultivation out of its native locality is purely artifi¬ 
cial, and has been carried on with advantage in many parts of the 
Straits, even in the poorest of soils, solely by the application of 
* Continued from p. 628. 
t Hist, of Sumatra, p. 69. 
