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fittest methods. Though this fact should not deter from the desire to 

 find how they can be still further improved, it gives to the problems 

 in padi cultivation a different aspect from those with which we are 

 faced in a new cultivation like rubber, with very little past history, 

 and no experience wrapped up in tradition and capable of being ex- 

 tracted and made useful. 



The experiments carried on at Parit Buntar owe much of their suc- 

 . cess to the care of Mr. F. F. Faithfull, A.M.I.C.E., x^ssistant Engineer, 

 Krian Irrigation Works, who took the greatest interest in all the 

 problems which it was hoped to solve and recorded with great care 

 all the necessary data. He aroused the interest of the padi-planting 

 Malays in the neighbourhood of the experimental plots and explained to 

 them the purpose of the different experiments and the value of the 

 results. 



The Federated Malay States Government have spent a large sum 

 of money in increasing the fertilityof some 70,000 acres of excellent padi 

 land by a comprehensive irrigation scheme, and it is important that 

 all within that area, should enjoy not only the advantages of the reg- 

 ular water supply, but that their methods of cultivation should be 

 such that these advantages can be reaped as bountifully as possible. 



I have not been able to get accurate statistics as to the relative 

 yields per acre outside and inside the artificially irrigated area, but all 

 the observations I have made and all the data I could obtain point to 

 the fact that the crop has been increased by probably 30 to 40 per cent, b^ 

 the use of irrigation. The monetary value of this iseasy to calculate. 



The crops of padi all over the Federated Malay States were about 

 average except inside the irrigated area, where they were greater than 

 usual, and some areas near Kuala Kangsar which were badly attacked 

 and damaged by rats. Mr. Gallagher kindly undertook an investiga- 

 tion as to methods of combating this ubiquitous pest, and his preliminary 

 experiments with carbon bisulphide were most encouraging. They will 

 be continued when the next padi crop is planted, and it is probable that 

 this method may prove an effective and practical way of ridding the 

 padi planter of one of his most constant and expensive enemies. 



With regard to other enemies of padi, eelworm and fungus — more 

 insidious because less easily detected, but causing none the less damage 

 — these pests are automatically lessened within the irrigation area by 

 the regular application of water and the uniform times of letting off 

 the water and drying of the plants above ground. Where the plants 

 are left too long in their young and tender condition without water 

 they are open to the attacks of certain insect pests, and when they are 

 kept too long growing in water other pests are enabled to thrive. In 

 addition to this the value of the power of at any time drying or flood- 

 ing the padi fields is in itself an admirable weapon against diseases. 



The following table shows the results of last year's experiments, 

 the chief object of which was to determine the question of how many 

 plants per "perdu" — i.e., group of young plants put in on one spot — 

 and how many "perdu" per acre give the largest yield. The seed 

 crop was weighed and measured and the straw was weighed. It is too 

 soon to draw definite conclusions until these experiments have been 

 continued and expanded for some little time. 



