AGRICULTURAL  BULLETIN 
OF  THE 
STRAITS 
AND 
FEDERATED  MALAY  STATES. 
No.  7.] 
JULY,  1903. 
[VOL.  II. 
PLANTING  AND  AGRICULTURE 
in  the  Federated  Malay  States  in  1902. 
From  the  Resident-General’s  Annual  Report  for  the  year  1902, 
the  following  particulars  are  extracted  : — 
As  regards  the  planting  interest,  further  experience  conlirms 
the  belief,  or  rather  endorses  the  certainty,  that  the  combination 
of  climate  and  soil  in  these  States  pre-eminently  ada[)ts  them  for 
the  cultivation  of  rubber  (Para  and  Rambong)  and  coconuts,  two 
products  the  demand  for  which  is  annually  increasing,  while  the 
success  of  sugar  cultivation  has  already  been  proved. 
Para. — Export  of  Para  rubber  in  quantity  has  not  yet  com- 
menced and  we  may  have  to  wait  a year  or  two  longer  for  that 
consummation^  but  meanwhile  we  know  that  our  samples  realise 
high  prices  in  England  and  that  additional  outside  capital  is  com- 
ing in  to  extend  the  area  of  land  under  this  cultivation. 
The  Chairman  of  that  influential  body — the  United  Planters’ 
Association  of  the  Federated  Malay  States — writes  in  his  official 
report  for  the  year  1902: — 
It  is  a significant  fact  that  from  Ceylon  comes  the  most 
pronounced  inclination  to  invest  in  this  product.  Ceylon 
planters  and  capitalists,  with  the  decline  of  coffee,  have  had 
little  cause  to  congratulate  themselves  on  (heir  connection 
with  the  Malay  Peninsula,  yet  it  is  undoubtedly  owing 
chiefly  to  the  visits  to,  and  personal  inspection  oL  our  rub- 
ber estates,  by  some  of  their  foremost  men,  that  they  are 
willing  and  anxious,  if  they  can  get  an  opportunity,  to  put 
more  money  in.  Such  support,  in  your  Committee’s  opi- 
nion, is  of  infinitely  greater  value  to  the  country  and  to  the 
enter})rise  than  would  be  the  influx  of  capital  where  expert 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  its  investors  was  absent.  As  far 
as  it  is  possible  to  judge  at  present,  the  Malay  Peninsula 
appears  to  possess  every  factor  necessary  to  the  successful 
cultivation  of  rubber.  Climate,  soil,  transport  facilities,  the 
quality  of  the  product,  and  the  yield  of  the  trees,  leave  little 
to  be  desired.  As  regards  labour,  this  coiin(r\’  i'^g  at  any 
rate,  infinitely  better  off  than  any  other  with  which  we  will 
