502 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



When the demoralizing effect of the last two 

 years is over, land can be opened in the F.M.S. 

 as cheaply as ever and the upkeep should be no 

 more. 



Three years ago any good man could open 

 and do the upkeep as follows : — 

 1st year. 



Opening 200 acres at 75 dols. per 

 acre 15,000- dols. 



2nd year. 



Upkeep on 1st 200 acres 3o dols. 

 per annum 6,000 dols. 



Opening 200 acres at 

 75 dols. 15,000 dols. 21,000- dols. 



3rd year. 



Upkeep on 1st 200 at 

 20 dols. 4,000 dols. 



Upkeep on 2nd 200 

 acres at 30 dols. 6,000 dols. 



Opening 200 acres at 

 •75 dols. 15,000 dols. 25,000 dols. 



and so on (see Selangor Rubber Co. reports 

 for the iirst five years). But to do this men must 

 learn how to weed. No matter how good the 

 land there can be no weeds without seeds. 



Killing one weed before seeding in many 

 cases saves the work of killing 20,000 the next 

 month, and in many cases much more than this. 



Men must not select old land which they 

 must know is already impregnated with seed ; 

 if they do they must stick to it until they have 

 let grow and destroyed all the seed in the land. 



On an estimate of $1 per month per acre for 

 the year I have often started with an expendi- 

 ture of $3 per month for the first month and in 

 the end worked to my estimate and saved on it 

 for the year. 



A GREAT CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE 



during the last two years, to say nothing of men 

 undertaking to open more land than they had 

 a visible supply of labour for, was the fact that 

 a large percentage of the land opened was old 

 land which experienced planters had rejected 

 knowing that it was impregnated with old seeds 

 all ready to come up the moment the jungle 

 was felled, and they had not sufficient labour to 

 stick to it until all the seed was finished up. 



There is only one road to a well and cheaply 

 opened estate, and that is to keep it perfectly 

 clean from the day it is burned off. The day 

 after the burn a gang of men should go round 

 all the boundaries (which are then full of weeds 

 in «eed) and on top of the heaps put every weed 

 and burn off all at the first chance instead of 

 letting millions of seed spread over the clearing. 



I think I have now written enough, and I 

 mean no offence to any one ; and sincerely 

 hope I may have given some good advice. 



W. W. Bailey. 

 —Singapore Free Press, April 10th. 



ALL ABOUT VANILLA. 



INCLUDING 

 PRACTICAL instructions for Planting, Culti 

 vation and Preparation for Market. 

 Price Rl"05 (post free). 



A. M. & J. FERGUSON, 

 Colombo, Ceylon, 



PLANTING IN MALAYA. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF OBTAINING CAPABLE MEN. 



We have received the following letter for 

 publication : — 



Singapore, April 4. 

 Sir, — You are deserving of all thanks, not 

 only from the Planters themselves^ but likewise 

 from the Rubber Growers' Association for the 

 manner in which you have taken up and dis- 

 cussed the proposals put forward by the latter 

 body. That the Planters can take care of them- 

 selves I do not doubt, but, at the same time, if 

 they have the backing of public opinion as 

 well, they are in a stronger position, and it is 

 that backing that you are endeavouring to give 

 them. 



One point, of which little has been made, but 

 which, I think, you will agree is most import- 

 ant, and one, which I see from your quotation 

 from the Ceylon Observer, Sir John Anderson is 

 very much alive to, is the desirability of getting, 

 as planters, that class of man which will prove 

 useful to the Government from an advisory 

 point of view. The whole welfare of the Malay 

 Peninsula demands that the highest class of 

 man obtainable shall occupy such high posi- 

 tions of trust as are occupied by the Superin- 

 tendents of big estates. They must be men 

 incapable of the meanness of small-minded men, 

 and must be men with a big breadth of view. 



To get these men for the highest billets, the 

 lower grade of billets must be filled with a similar 

 type of men, only with less experience ; but the 

 lower grade men must be able to obtain the 

 training that will qualify them to take up the 

 positions which are vacated on the retirement 

 of the existing men in the highest positions. 

 If the proposals of the Rubber Growers' Asso- 

 ciation are adopted as they stand, which I do 

 not for one moment anticipate, the wrong class 

 of man will be imported for the junior billets, 

 and, hereafter, the senior men will be drawn 

 from a class who will be useless to the couutry 

 at large, though perhaps excellent servants to 

 their own companies in every way. There is no 

 doubt that we all owe something to the State, 

 and it seems to me that the Rubber Growers' 

 Association have let this particular point escape 

 them. 



In the future, it will be a most desirable thing 

 to have many of the planters on the different 

 Boards of Councils, whatever they may be 

 designed when they come into being, in the 

 course of time, which will have the handling of 

 the many local questions which arise from time 

 to time, and it is essential that such men be 

 capable, and of such a type that the Government 

 will really rely upon them, and weigh their 

 every recommendation carefully as coming from 

 men who deserve consideration. 



I venture to say that such an unfortunate 

 incident as the rushing through the Legislature 

 of the Tamil Labour Bill would not be likely to 

 occur if more men of the type I am trying to 

 describe were members of the various Com- 

 mittees of the Planters' Associations. 



