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into purely Para or Rambong propositions, and except 

 new lands are planted, the machinery used in the prepara- 

 tion of coffee will be useless. In districts like Serdang 

 and Langkat the change will be great, owing to the very 

 large acreages now under Liberian coffee. In five years' 

 time the appearance of these two Residencies will be com- 

 pletely changed, and for the first time a forest cultiva- 

 tion will reign. 



Lalang. 



On neglected estates the tall, narrow leaves of that 

 much-feared weed — lalang — soon make their appearance. 

 Tobacco lands, after being cropped, are allowed to de- 

 velop in lalang and secondary growth. The same hap- 

 pens with the sugar lands in Java and Perak. Whether 

 the frequent sight of lalang has dulled my sense of tear 

 I know not, but I certainly must admit that I no longer 

 look upon it as the terrible weed against which organised 

 effort is of no avail. I have seen thousands of acres of 

 Para rubber developed on old lalang grounds and now 

 thriving exceedingly well. Many planters are to-day 

 selecting such land for rubber on account of the absence 

 of tree stumps in the soil and the relative immunity from 

 the root fungus and white ants which such a condition 

 gives. There is usually nothing wrong with the soil 

 except that a crop of tobacco or sugar may have been 

 taken from it in past years. 



On flat land I have seen an American steam plough 

 used to turn the soil over and bury the lalang. This 

 seemed to me to be the wrong thing to do, but as the 

 lalang was kept in check at a cost of two guilders (3s. 4d.) 

 per bouw (if acres) per month during the first year, and 

 at a nominal cost subsequently, I could not seriously 

 complain. On other estates the land is kept free from 

 weeds along the lines of the rubber trees to a width of 

 six feet, and the lalang between the rows smothered with 

 kratok, or the wild passion flower. The power of these 

 trailing weed-killers is remarkable, and I anticipate that 

 their use will be much more frequent when once the re- 

 results obtained are better known. If the estate has to 

 be clean weeded and is completely under lalang, it will 

 cost at least two guilders per month per acre for the 



