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a. Cassava (Tapioca). 



Cassava has been planted for several years in the Malay 

 States, usually by the Chinese; it was, therefore quite 

 natural for it to be tried as a catch crop. It answers 

 partly to the requirements enumerated above, but there 

 are some objections ; although nearly always it is consi- 

 dered suitable for the purpose. When cassava is planted 

 in this way in rubber, it should not be too close to it ; 

 when rubber is planted in an old cassava plantation, 

 obviously it must suffer and therefore the cassava is 

 planted in rows between the Hevea. 



For the following reasons, cassava is considered 

 unsuitable as a catch crop: 



1. Cassava tends to exhaust the soil. 



It has already been mentioned that there are no proofs 

 of this, but it is certain that with repeated cultivation of 

 cassava on the same place, its production decreases, 

 although it does not follow from this that the soil would 

 be less suitable for other plants. If cassava is only planted 

 far enough from the Hevea on raised beds, then soil 

 exhaustion, so far as Hevea is concerned, will not be 

 important. 



2. Cassava is not a profitable crop. 



The decrease in the price of cassava meal of late years 

 makes its preparation so little profitable that the tubers 

 are almost unsaleable to the Chinese meal manufacturers. 

 A case was mentioned to me where the cassava was 



