4^4 



and sustained effort on the part of the authorities to rid the country 

 of these pernicious insects, which, if not dealt with systematically, 

 render a cultivation that should be attractive in appearance as well 

 as lucrative, little better than a hideous eyesore. In this connection 

 much assistance might be rendered to the Government by planters 

 reporting every case which they may observe of trees being neg- 

 lected ; at the same time there are so manv instances of groves of 

 coconuts, actually within town limits, being riddled through and 

 through with beetle and never attended to. that it is difficult to 

 realise that any ordinance providing for their extermination exists 

 at all. The Bee Hawk moth has reappeared in numbers on several 

 Estates, principally in the Klang district, and though moths, chry- 

 salids, caterpillars and eggs have been steadily collected and des- 

 troyed, a considerable loss of leaf has been experienced. So far, 

 hand picking, and catching the moths in nets, have been the only 

 methods employed in fighting this pest, and as the moths are day 

 and not night insects, their capture by the medium of powerful 

 lamps is of course not feasible. This method is however to be 

 tried with respect to coconut betties, and the result will be awaited 

 with great interest. Ficus Elastica borers and several different 

 kinds of caterpillars have been reported, but only in comparatively 

 small numbers. 



Chief Planting Products. 



COFFEE. — The export returns for Perak, Selangor and Negri 

 Sembilan show an increase in 1901 of 6,476 piculs, this must be 

 considered a satisfactory result in view of the fact that prices aver- 

 aged §18.29 per picul as against §20.80 in 1900. Moreover, ex- 

 change fell from 2/- (demand selling rate on London) in January to 

 i/ioj- in December, but for which fact, dollar quotations would 

 presumably have been lower still. A good deal of Coffee has never- 

 theless been planted in 1901, mostly in conjunction with Para rub- 

 ber, and cultivation has been well maintained, whilst quality has 

 improved, and complaints on this score have been much less fre- 

 quent. Reports from Brazil go to show that the coming season's 

 blossoms have to a great extent failed and there is a widespread 

 belief that 6,000,000 bags will be the limit of the crop actually 

 gathered in Rio and Santos, though the unloading of heavv stocks 

 may to a great extent counteract the hardening effect which such a 

 phenomenally poor crop should exercise upon the market. It is a 

 somewhat debatable point whether the failure of the blossoms in 

 Brazil is to be attributed to the impoverished condition of the trees, 

 consequent upon inadequate cultivation and a succession of abnor- 

 mally heavy crops, or whether the season has been un propitious. 

 If the former assumption be correct, then there can be little doubt 

 that a steady and continued improvement may be confidently anti- 

 cipated, but advices are so conflicting that it would be premature 

 in the extreme at this stage to attempt any reliable forecast. 



COCONUTS. — Owing to the ravages of beetle and the co>t of 

 keeping the trees clean, Coconuts are not as much planted as their 



