l62 



COCONUTS IN THE 

 FEDERATED MALAY STATES IN 1903. 



The Inspector of Coconut trees, Mr. L. C. BROWN, has just 

 published his annual report for 1903, which contains a good deal 

 of instructive information. He says that the area under Coconuts 

 amounted at the end of the year to 77,500 acres, which may be 

 roughly valued at between 12 and 15 million dollars. This is a 

 large increase on the acreage recorded in the previous year. A 

 little more than half the cultivated area is in Perak, the rest is 

 almost evenly divided between the three other States. The 'Inspec- 

 tor gives an account of one estate showing how a little carelessness 

 may produce a great development of the beetle pest. The estate 

 c hiefly Para Rubber contained 50 acres of coconuts mixed with the 

 rubber, and these it was decided to destroy. "Unfortunately this 

 w as done without sufficient precaution being taken to see that 

 each tree as it was cut down was thorough! y destroyed. The conse- 

 quence being that in a very short space of time the red beetles and 

 grubs were simply swarming in the stumps and stems lying about. 

 Some idea of the enormous numbers may be gathered from the 

 fact that as main - as 20,000 beetles and grubs were killed in one 

 day and before the pests could be got rid of and which was done 

 at considerable expense in about 2 months time over f 70,000 of 

 them were collected and destroyed. They spread also to the ad- 

 joining estate and several thousands of the beetles were caught in 

 the coconuts there, but the Manager put on several hands to deal 

 with the evil which is now eradicated." 



hi some instances the Malay owners were aroused to take more 

 interest in their holdings, and collected a body from themselves 

 to (dean up the villages in regular order, with highly beneficial 

 results, but the Malays in other parts were callous and indifferent. 



At Bagan Dato Estate where there were 800 acres under 

 European cultivation, Mr. BROWN found on his first visit that 

 much damage had been done by rats, but the trees were free from 

 beetles, but towards August the place became suddenly and se- 

 riously infested by beetles and grubs, which were found in large 

 numbers in the decayed stumps and in the top soil of black loams. 

 The pests were exterminated by flooding. It is noted that trees 

 between 8 and 10 years old or even older that have been attacked 

 by beetles easily become recoverable with ordinary care in a very 

 short time. On the other hand young trees between the age of three 

 and six years require continual and particular attention and always 

 give considerable trouble, and this may also be said of very old 

 trees which take even longer to come round. 



As regards the prospects of the coconut cultivation, owing to 

 the increased interest in Para and other rubbers, the Inspector 

 does not look for a groat increase in coconut cultivation by Euro- 

 peans. In fact it may diminish the coconut trees being cut down 

 to make room for the rubber. This however, he does not think 



