184 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



must absolutely be removed, and it is also 

 equally important to see that all grass and 

 grass-roots should be eradicated. It has been 

 well established that a proximity of bacteria 

 from grass-roots, especially of the lalahg or 

 cogon variety, is highly detrimental to the 

 growth of coco-nuts. Fungus emanating from 

 rotting wood or roots is also inimical. 



In preparing the land for coco-nut planting 

 Mr. L. C. Brown, Inspector of Coco-nut 

 Plantations, F.M.S., in his Bulletin No. n, 

 says that for the first year, at least, it is pre- 

 ferable to keep the ground free from weeds, 

 as doing so, among other advantages, causes 

 the trees to come to maturity at an earlier 

 stage, saves money in maintenance, and offers 

 greater facilities for ploughing. He attaches 

 great importance, we are glad to see, to seed 

 selection when laying out an estate. With 

 this we quite agree, and it is for this reason 

 that we call attention to the San Bias nuts else- 

 where. Mr. Brown reports that the seed-nuts 

 imported from Penang and Province Wellesley 

 by some of the large coco-nut plantations in 

 the Federated Malay States have done ex- 

 ceedingly well ; although he adds that excellent 

 nuts may be obtained from Kuala Selangor, 

 Kuala Langat, and Lower Perak. Seed-nuts, 

 we are told, should be selected from well- 

 matured trees of medium size and age, say 

 twenty-five to thirty years, which show a good 

 yield and large-sized roimdish nuts, either red, 



