Cultivation in Malaya 47 



the trees were defoliated, they rapidly re- 

 covered. Spraying is, of course, the' remedy, 

 but it is only possible to spray the higher por- 

 tions of the trees with a very powerful machine. 



'' The total export of copra was 125,770 

 piculs (i picul = 133^ lb.), an increase of 16 per 

 cent, over 1909. This, of course, does not 

 represent nearly the whole of the production. 

 In Negri Sembilan, for instance, the greater 

 part of the produce is sold as nuts and con- 

 verted into copra in Malacca. The price of 

 the nuts in Selangor has risen* from two and 

 a-half to five and six cents each, owing to the 

 increased demand by Chinese merchants who 

 make copra. 



'' The area under coco-nuts in the four 

 States is returned as being as follows : 



Area Exports 1 



Perak 66,088 acres ... 91,265 piculs 



Selangor ... 28,667 ... 31,451 



Pahang ... 19,246 ,, ... 2,585 



Negri Sembilan 16,343 ,, ... 469 ,, 



130,344 ,, ... 125,770 =- 7, 500 tons." 



Prices of the nuts in Malaya varied con- 

 siderably from two to six cents each (100 

 cents = 2s. 4d.), against an average price of 



1 As already mentioned, the quantity exported is but 

 a portion of the total production. The produce of any 

 increased area coming into bearing would tend to go 

 almost entirely, we should imagine, to swell the exports, 

 as the local demand has already been satisfied out of 

 the present output, so any increase to this would have 

 to look to oversea markets for buyers. 



