and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— September, 1912. 268 



COCONUTS IN THE FEDERATED 

 MALAY ESTATES. 



The Inepoctor of Coconuts estimates the total 

 area under coconuts in the Federated Malay 

 States at, approximately, 142,774 acres, an in- 

 crease of 12,430 acres or about 8£ per cent, over 

 the total for 1910. The area in several States is 

 as follows : — 



Perak .... ... 73. 120 acres. 



Selangor ... ... 33,355 ,, 



Negri Sembilan ... 19,584 ,, 

 Pahang ... ... 16.715 „ 



It is gratifying again to record a steady in- 

 crease in the area under this valuable and reli- 

 able crop. From the area now under cultiva- 

 tion the Inspector of Coconuts estimates, taking 

 an average of 40 nuts per tree, that there will be 

 produced 1,100,000 pikuls (65.500 tons) of copra, 

 provided that the whole of the nuts were con- 

 verted into this products. The by-products also 

 should eventually be used on a much larger scale 

 for the manufacture of coir matting, rope, etc. 

 During the year large areas have been taken up 

 in Perak and Selangor by European companies 

 for the purpose of coconut cultivation. 



The Commissioner of Trade and Customs has 

 kindly supplied the following figures giving the 

 export of copra for J 01 1 from the four States : — 

 Perak .... ... 102 .907 pkls. 



Selangor ... ... 20 425 ,, 



Negri Sembilan ... 924 ,, 

 Pahang .... ... 1,808 ,, 



Total 135,064 ,, or 8,000 



tons, approximately. 



In addition to this, the Federal Oil Mills at 

 Kuala Selangor purchased Jocally 20,236 pikuls. 

 Compared with last year the export shows an 

 increase of 9,294 pikuls or about eight per cent. 



The Inspector of Coconuts states that the 

 average price paid for good quality of 

 copra during the year may be taken at 

 about $10 per pikul, and it would appear, 

 from the present position of the market, 

 that good prices are lik>ly to be maintained 

 for some time. The total value of the copra 

 produced may be taken as, approximately, 

 $1,553,000. 



The copra exported from European estates 

 is stated by the Inspector of Coconuts to be of 

 good quality, but he regrets not to be able to 

 report any improvement in that manufactured 

 by natives, especially in Ku^la Selangor district. 

 This poor quality is chufly due to the use of 

 immature nuts for the manufacture of copra. 



With regard to pests, the Inspector uf Coco- 

 nuts reports that beetles gave most trouble in 

 Matang, Larut and Kriau. Immediate steps 

 were taken to deal with these and at present 

 very little damage from this source is bning 

 done to the tree3. He states that far more 

 damage is done by rats, pigs and bears, the last of 

 which destroyed over 1,000 trees in Lower Perak. 



While the native kimpougs themselves are 

 generally fairly clean, there are a number which 

 are allowed to become overgrown with lalang 

 and undergrowth. These harbour pigs and 



other pests to the damage of neighbouring cul- 

 tivations. It would be to the benefit of them- 

 selves and cultivators generally and also, in- 

 directly, to the Government if Malays could 

 be persuaded to keep their holdings in a fair 

 condition of good husbandry. In the Krian 

 district great improvement is reported iu the 

 upkeep of coconut estates previously owned by 

 Chinese but now in the possession of European 

 companies. 



Gknebal. — The questions connected with 

 coconut cultivation have not received the atten- 

 tion they deserve in the Federated Malay States. 

 There has been too much of the idea that a coco- 

 nut only has to be planted somewhere near and 

 it will grow anyhow. As a matter of Fact, coco- 

 nuts probably require even more careful atten- 

 tion than Para rubber trees. Onn point is clear 

 and that is that conditions in Malaya are quite 

 different from those obtaining in other countries 

 — for example, the best plantations here are 

 those on heavy clay land, while the usual idea 

 is that coconuts thrive b st in light soils. The 

 majority of plantations here are on the flat low- 

 lying lands near the coast. 



It is evident that on such soils drainage is a 

 most important factor and the possibilities of 

 this should be especially looked into when the 

 location of a proposed plantation is being selec- 

 ted. The main drains at least should be put in 

 before any planting is done. A coconut is very 

 intolerant of stagnant water and somo of the 

 native holdings suffer considerably through in- 

 attention to this point. 



The question of the cultivation of coconuts is, 

 to my mind, still an open one. Does clean weed- 

 ing, as commonly practised on rubber estates, 

 pay best ? It is better to keep clean an eight- 

 foot circle round the trees and allow the weeds 

 to grow (always excluding lalang) or should the 

 intermediate land be ploughed or forked. Should 

 a leguminous cover crop be grown? Is any manu- 

 rial treatment required beyond an occasional 

 dressing of bullock manure? 1 would not wish to 

 pronounce on any of these points, though, from 

 what I have seen, I would say that clean weed- 

 ing is not so great a success with coconuts as it 

 has been with rubber. - Pinnng Gazette. 



COTTON CULTI VATION IN MOROCCO. 



Ax Sim Ali, Scene op Recent Fighting. 



H.M. Consul at Dasablanca (Mr A M Madden, 

 c.m.g ), has forwarded a report on some experi- 

 ments in the cultivation of cotton in that dis- 

 trict. Twenty-two plants were raised from seeds 

 obtained fr ra Porto P*ico and plauted at Casa- 

 blanca in a nursery with a chalky sub-soil. They 

 were watered twice a month during the dry sea- 

 son, during which time they also received two 

 dressings (binage). The average height was 130 

 metres (about 4 feet 3 inches) and the total yield 

 was 35o gr ammes of clean cotton of good quality, 

 equivalent to about 1,160 kilogs. per hectare 

 (= 9'2 cwts. per acre. ) Experiments were also 

 carried out at Sidi Ali, about 50 miles from 

 Casablanca on the Mazagan ttoad, a still better 

 cotton being produced, but the experiments 

 were on too small a scale to allow any definite 

 c inclusions to be drawn. — Bjard of Trade 

 Journal, July 4. 

 I 



