Cultivation in Malaya 55 



many estates, as by so doing much room would 

 be made use of that at present is wasted, whilst 

 possibly the crops would benefit from the 

 protection of the palms as windbreaks, &c., 

 and it is well known that coco-nuts when so 

 planted yield profusely, on account of the room 

 the leaves have on two sides, if not all round. 

 Seven miles of coco-nuts, planting even 30 

 or 40 ft. apart, means 1,232 or 924 trees, 

 which, at only 50 nuts a tree (a fair yield on 

 an estate planted 30 by 30, and when planted 

 singly a higher yield could reasonably be 

 expected) would mean from 45,000 to 60,000 

 nuts a year. The lecturer explained that he 

 started planting with coco-nuts a road that had 

 been left shadeless for generations. The ryots 

 derided the idea until the first half mile was 

 planted, then they begged to be allowed to 

 continue the work if they might take the 

 profits. The planting was carried on for 

 seven miles, and now yields a revenue that pays 

 for the upkeep of 20 miles of road, besides 

 benefiting both man and beast using the road, 

 as well as protecting possibly the adjacent 

 crops, and yielding foodstuffs, in this case used 

 for local consumption. 



Regarding the vexed question of coco-nut 

 returns, several coco-nut propositions have 

 been floated on this side, and it is claimed that 

 these are but signs of a " boom " of this article, 

 on the same lines as the rubber boom, only in 

 a much smaller way. As was the case with 



