265 



is knocked off by the cockle shells and falls as a fine powder 

 through the interstices of the basket on the cloth. It is pounded 

 up to make it evenly fine, and when made into cakes is put in a 

 cloth and steeped in warm water and then the cloth is squeezed 

 till the dragon's blood makes the firm hard block which is ex- 

 ported. 



H. N. RIDLEY. 



FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 

 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF 

 COCONUT PLANTATIONS FOR THE YEAR 1905. 



The area under coconuts at the end of 1905 in the Federated 

 Malay States may be estimated approximately at 100,000 acres, 

 apportioned to the four States as follows : 



Perak ... ... ... ... ... 50,700 acres 



Selangor ... ... ... ... ... 18,800 ,, 



Negri Sembilan ... ... ... ... 16,000 ,, 



Pahang ... ... ... ... ... 14,500 ,, 



On more than half of this acreage the treesv are in bearing, and 

 its value in my opinion may be estimated at about 17,000,000 

 dollars. 



Increase, 1905. — After deducting some 700 to 800 acres of 

 coconuts (planted originally among the rubber in some European 

 estates in Selangor and Perak, which were destroyed to make 

 room for the latter in 1905), there still remains the substantial 

 increase of 10,000 acres in the cultivation as compared to the 

 preceding year. This, I think, may be considered quite satis- 

 factory, seeing that the extension is almost entirely confined to 

 native holdings and indicates that the cultivation of the coconut, 

 which is particularly suited to their wants, continues to find 

 favour among them. I anticipate every probability of as much, 

 if not more, land being opened up during the current year. 



The State of Perak contributes chiefly towards the area 

 planted up during 1905, Bagan Dato, Runkup and Utan Melin- 

 tang, in Lower Perak, accounting alone for no less than 5,000 

 acres. These mukims, as I have mentioned before, contain by 

 far the finest contiguous block of coconuts in the States, and 

 although many of the trees are still young the greater number are 

 in bearing. In fact, the district has, during the year under 

 review, made immense strides and the output of copra was nearly 

 double that of the previous year. I was therefore very pleased to 

 learn that the Government has this year made provision for 

 commencing the proposed circular road from Utan Melintank to 



