Page:Journal Of The Indian Archipelago And Eastern Asia Series.i, Vol.3 (IA in.ernet.dli.2015.107696).pdf/587



Singapore situated within little more than a degree of the Equator and without any tract of elevated land has a remarkable equality of climate and seasons. We feel but in a moderate degree the influence of the N. E. and S. W. Monsoons, and we have a mild rainy season of short duration in the commencement of the former, lasting from October to December. These changes however have little influence upon the vegetable creation, the plants are green throughout the year, and there is a perpetual succession of fruits and flowers. Thus every period of the year is suited for agricultural operations and they can be commenced and conducted in all. The climate at the same time is totally free from storms, hurricanes, or even violent gusts of wind, calculated to impede or overthrow the labors of the husbandman. Neither are those labors nor the personal safety of the cultivator likely to be endangered by the depredations of wild and ferocious animals; for the Tiger and Elephant, so pernicious to agriculture on Sumatra and the Malayan Continent, do not exist in Singapore or any other of the small islands, and the wild boar, another formidable depredator, is few in number. Hitherto at least these regions have to the best of our knowledge been free from the wide spreading depredations of those hosts of insects, such as the Locust, the Palmerworm, Hessianfly, &c. which devasted [sic] the plains of central Asia and America, taxing the labors of the husbandman to an inconceivable extent.

The soil of Singapore reposes upon a sand stone of old formation in which is found extensive beds of clay iron ore. The surface of the island consists for the most part of low hills from 100 to 150 feet in height. In a few situations on the coast there are long narrow plains; the soil of the latter is invariably sandy and sterile, fit only for the growth of weeds and tall trees. On the hills the soil is composed of the deluvium of the sand stone and clay iron ore, and its varieties depend upon the proportions in which these ingredients enter into its composition. On the summits of the hills the soil is commonly scanty, but on the sides, slopes and narrow valleys below, deep and abundant. There are no rich alluvial tracts in the island, for a sufficient reason that there are no considerable rivers calculated to give origin to them.

These brief notices of the soil and climate lead us to a consideration of those articles of husbandry which are suited or otherwise to the growth of the island. In the first place it must be obvious that the absence of extensive alluvial plains and of a command of water to irrigate them renders the island totally unfit for the growth of rice, a commodity which can never be cheaply brought to market except where those advantages exist. We may venture to assert that the soil of Singapore is equally unsuited for the production of Coffee. To afford this article cheaply and at the