Coffee, tea, cinchona and sugar were tried in turn, with limited success.
The soil is in general very fertile, the principal products being rice, maize and pulse (kachang) in the lower grounds, and cinchona, coffee and tea, as well as cocoa, tobacco and fibrous plants in the hills.
The cinchona has recently been introduced with complete success; and the mahogany of America reaches a large size, and gives promise of being grown for use as timber.
The best known of these are sarsaparilla, ipecacuanha, cinchona, jaborandi and copaiba; vanilla, tonka beans and cloves; Brazil-wood and anatto (Bixa orellana); india-rubber and balata.
Of the medicinal plants, the best-known products are ipecacuanha., sarsaparilla, copaiba, jaborandi and cinchona, but this is only a part of the list.