214 



1 895 Kynclersiey starts the first practical Estate in 



the Federated Malay States. 



1896 Dr. Willis arrives in Ceylon 



Rubber block and biscuit sent home from the 

 Gardens valued at 2/8. 



1897 Mr, Derry sends rubber from Perak valued at 



2/8 to 3 per pound. 



1898 Mr. Curtis sends rubber from Penanji, alued at 



3/3 per lb. 



Mr. Tan Chay Yan exhibits plantation grown 

 rubber at Malacca exhibition. 



1899 \ Mr. Derry sends rubber from Perak, sold in England 



for £61—1—6 (3/10 per lb.) sheet. 



T899 June. Messrs. Parkin and Willis publish the discovery of 

 wound response and the method of collecting 

 latex in tins. 



COCONUTS IN PEAT SOIL. 



Mr. Lermit kindly sends an instructive photograph of Coconuts 

 cultivated in the same kind of peat soil which has been already 

 described as utterly unsuitable for Para rubber. 



The coconut palms were first planted some twenty-five years ago 

 and at present the yield of nuts is practically nil. The depth of peat 

 is fifteen feet. The photograph shows a number of the palms of fair 

 size, but most with bent stems, as we are accustomed to see in soft 

 wet ground, and a number of young ones of a fairly good habit. The 

 ground beneath the trees is covered with a thick mat of grass and 

 ferns, the Lamiding Acrostichum being the most conspicuous. 



The effect on the trees seems to be that of swamp land. Coco- 

 nuts grown on low lying damp soil, insufficiently drained, are bent 

 and lie at all angles sometimes nearly horizontal and though 

 attaining often a good size fruit little or not at all. A curious thing 

 I observed about such trees many years ago was that they were 

 never attacked by coconut beetles, though in some cases the surround- 

 ing trees were freely attacked. This suggests that some part of the 

 nutriment for the nuts, which is also attractive to the beetles, is 

 absent from the tree. — Ed. 



