SEUjY iBER 3, 1903. 
ORCHIDS -AND COTTON. 
The August number of the “ Straits Agri¬ 
cultural Bulletin,” contains, among other mat¬ 
ter, an article on the cultivation of t lie spider 
or scorpion orchids which should prove very 
interesting to amateur gardeners. But if Mr 
Ridley would just “ buck up ” and try to live 
up to his opportunities, he would t ell us what 
he is doing from day to-day to investigate the 
possibilities of tlie• cultivation of cotton. The 
Empire can do without orchids for a while. But 
it needs now an ever growing source of cotton 
supply in place of :e ever shrinking A.meri- 
ean supply. Mr Ridley, it is understood, 
doesn't see the newspapers--like • the late 
Mr .triadstone, and the extant Mr Bailout' 
ami yet nearly all tin; home papers have 
bristled ‘ lately with wails about cotton 
^jortage. If some kind person would paly 
mark this paragraph and send the paper up to 
r.b' Curator of the (iai-dens amt Director Of 
Economic Agriculture for the Colony and tfte 
i Federated Malay States, that, professional 
I gentleman might lie induced to take- up cue 
•study of a matter rp.it te within the four 
corners of. his profession, and entirely within 
the reasonable obligations of his appoint- 
merit. It is pist possible that thy High 
Commissioner of the■ Federated Malay .States 
might invite the. Residents to encourage the 
District Officers in all the Stales to provide, 
native cultivators with the finest sort of coAon 
seed from America, and induce them to under¬ 
take prolonged experimental cultivation. Such 
c'vperiineutal wort; is going on now practically 
in every British Tropical colony, and there is 
no reason whv the Malay Peninsula should R> 
1 he th i ’ v • * s i a. ■ k s I or ' ‘ in tins res pec t. 
