241 



under cultivation amounts to 6,529 acres corresponding to 5 per 

 cent, the total area now under cultivation being 130,344 acres. A wel- 

 come feature of the increase is that a large part of it is due to 

 Europeans. This should in time cause a considerable increase in 

 quality as well as the quantity of the output of copra. Large acres 

 of land have in addition been taken up this year, esi)ecially in Perak, 

 for future planting in this crop. 



The Inspector of Coconut Plantations and his staff have con- 

 tinued to devote attention to the pests which, on the whole, are kept 

 well under control. 



The export of copra amounted to 125,770 pikuls, an increase of 

 more than 16 per cent, over that for 1909. This, of course, does not 

 represent nearly the whole of the production ; in Negri Sembilan, 

 for instance, the greater part of the produce is sold as nuts and 

 converted into copra in Malacca. I have already pointed out that one 

 effect of the increase of the output of smoked rubber is likely to be an 

 increase in the area planted on estates in coconuts. 



OTHER CROPS. 



Although padi is such an important native cultivation I have 

 no statistics showing the amount produced. Most of it, of course, 

 is consumed by the growers, and so the crop is not one that lends 

 itself to statistical treatment. Again I regret to report that no experi- 

 ments in rice cultivation were carried out. 



COFFEE. 



The total area under coffee at the end of 1910 was 6,475 acres, 

 almost entirely in the Federated Malay States and the greater part 

 of it in Selangor, against 5,885 acres in 1909 and 8,431 in 1908. 

 Practically the whole of this coffee is grown as a catch-crop: over 

 5,000 acres with rubber and 1,000 with coconuts. The planting of 

 coffee as a catch-crop with rubber is not recommended by the 

 department as agriculturally sound, particularly as the coffee is also 

 a host plant of the Fomes of root disease. The Hemeleia leaf spot is 

 present in most cultivations and seems to attack all varieties of coffee. 



SUGAR. 



The area under sugar again decreased, the total for the Federated 

 Malay States being 3,759 acres against 7,128 in 1909. For the 

 Straits Settlements there was an increase to 5,315 acres against 3,638 

 last year. Of the total of 3,759 acres in the Federated Malay States, 

 1,405 acres were interplanted with rubber, which means that this area 

 will soon be under rubber alone; practically the whole of the decrease 

 from 1909 to 1910 comes under the head of sugar planted with rubber. 



EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The experimental work of the department has suffered severely 

 owing to staff changes. The Superintendent of Government Planta- 

 tions has been able to do little but begin to get the previously started 



