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come  quicklv  into  bearing  and  produce  magnificent  crops;  he  is 
of  opinion  that  this  cultivation  will  be  one  of  the  safest  and  most 
paying  of  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  States,  and  the  most 
lasting  and  least  costly.  It  is  an  industry  suited  to  both  the 
European  and  the  native.  The  area  under  coconuts  is  given 
approximately  at  40,700  acres. 
Coffee. — The  Liberian  Coffee  estates  have,  to  a great  extent, 
been  planted  up  with  Para,  which  will  eventually  dispossess  the 
coffee.  The  export  during  the  year  reached  the  largest  figure  yet 
recorded — 62,580  pikuls — and  well-opened  and  well-managed  es-' 
tates  on  well-selected  land  yield  a small  profit  even  at  present  low 
prices. 
Tapioca, — d'he  demand  for  tapioca  appears  to  be  increasing  and 
the  East  Coast  districts  of  Pahang  afford  a fine  field  for  those  who 
may  be  desirous  of  undertaking  the  cultivation  of  this  product. 
Agriculture. — From  an  excellent  report  by  Mr.  F.  Belfield, 
Acting  Commissioner  of  Lands  and  Mines,  I quote  the  following 
remarks:  — 
In  accordance  with  a suggestion  contained  in  the  Resi- 
dent General's  Annual  Report  for  1901,  an  endeavour  has 
been  made  to  obtain  particulars  of  the  areas  under  different 
forms  of  cultivation,  with  yield  of  the  various  products. 
I'he  year  was  well  advanced  when  the  collectors  were  noti- 
fied that  this  information  was  desired,  and  the  particulars 
given  in  the  attached  return  G {7iot  printed)  must  be  taken 
as  approximate  only  ; but  from  these  it  would  appear  that 
some  382,000  acres,  or  about  one-half  of  the  total  area  of 
agricultural  land  returned  as  “ occupied, ” was  actually  under 
cultivation  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  collectors  have  experienced  great  difficulty  in  obtain- 
ing information  as  to  yield  of  the  various  products,  and 
from  the  districts  of  Larut,  Malang,  Selama,  Upper  Perak, 
Kinta,  Kuala  Lumpur,  Kuala  Selangor  and  Kuala  Pilah,  no 
information  at  all  on  this  subject  is  forthcoming;  so  far  as 
the  other  districts  of  the  Federation  are  concerned  the 
returns  supplied,  which  make  no  claim  to  be  more  than  a 
rough  approximation,  indicate  that  the  year’s  agricultural 
product  included  14,000,000  gantangs  of  padi,  of  which 
Pahang  contributed  about  6,000,000  and  Perak  5,500,000; 
90.000  pikuls  of  tapioca,  mostly  from  Negri  Sembilan  ; 
43.000  pikuls  of  coffee,  of  which  nearly  three-fourths  came 
from  Selangor  and  one-fourth  from  Negri  Sembilan,  and 
20,000,000  C(monuts  of  which  Perak  was  the  principal  pro- 
ducer. 
The  padi  crop  appears  to  have  been  a poor  one  in  Perak 
and  Selangor  and  over  the  greater  part  of  Negri  Sembilan  ; 
but  throughout  the  small  district  of  Jelebu  it  is  described  as 
exceedingly  good,  the  best  for  several  years.  From  Central 
Pahang  also  an  excellent  crop  is  reported,  while  in  Liu 
l^ahang  and  Raub  ii  was  fairly  good. 
