August, 1910.] 



159 



Miscellaneous* 



hookworms which infest men require a 

 certain amount of warmth in order to 

 develop, and on this account they thrive 

 better in the South than in the North. 

 Therefore, generally speaking, this 

 disease is a tropical and sub-tropical 

 malady. In the United States it is a 

 southern disease, and its occurrence 

 north of Maryland is exceptional. For 

 practical purposes we may say that the 

 Potomac and Ohio Rivers form about 

 the northern limits of its distribution. 



PLANTING NEWS FROM THE 

 FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 



Coconuts, Camphor, Cassava. 

 The Rat Trouble again. 



(From the Tropical Life, Vol. V., No. 2, 

 February, 1909.) 

 There is much to learn in the report 

 of the third year's work of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture of the Federated 

 Malay States, which, although for 1907, 

 has only just come to hand. The 

 trouble is not what to write about, but 

 what to leave out. The report is, need- 

 less to say, filled with important inform- 

 ation on rubber j in fact, quite a decent- 

 sized handbook could be written round 

 it, and would prove of the greatest value 

 to planters. This month, however, we 

 must leave rubber alone, and only call 

 attention to the paragraphs dealing 

 with coconuts, tapioca or cassava, and 

 rice, &c. Our readers must note how 

 Mr. Carruthers, the Director, is warn- 

 ing everyone ahead to be prepared for 

 rats, insects, and other pests, so that as 

 soon as they appear, or wherever they 

 have already made themselves felt, 

 their destruction can at once be brought 

 about. Those, therefore, interested in 

 the sale of pest exterminators should do 

 well to watch the Federated Malay 

 States, and see that its planters are 

 well provided with the necessary spray- 

 ing machines, fluid, virus, &c. 



Malaya, we are told, is especially for- 

 tunate in the climate, which is unsur- 

 passed for rapid growth of vegetation ; 

 but these exceptionally good conditions 

 are also in some cases favourable to the 

 prosperity of insect and fungoid pests ; 

 and the planters are told it is impera- 

 tive that careful watch should be kept 

 by all cultivators, so that the earliest 

 signs of disease, to whatever cause due, 

 may be brought to the notice of the 

 Department. 



Every agricultural country has its 

 peculiar climatic and soil conditions, 



and the Federated Malay States differ 

 very greatly from any other country. 

 The conditions of alternating sunshine 

 and rain which obtain point to methods 

 which may not be sound for other 

 countries, where, with greater rainfall 

 and with long droughts, methods may 

 be useful which are not necessary or 

 beneficial here. 



The general health of cultivated plants 

 was good ; locally diseases by animals, 

 insects, fungi and other causes did some 

 damage, but there was no special out- 

 break of new disease or recrudescence of 

 any already known pest. With defi- 

 nite knowledge of the various diseases 

 already known, which attack our culti- 

 vated plants, and increased experience 

 in methods oi dealing with them, the 

 danger of any pest sweeping over a 

 cultivation unchecked and seriously crip- 

 pling the industry is greatly reduced. 



The acreage under coffee has increased 

 a little, there being 10,833 acres this year 

 (1907) as compared with 9,708 at the end 

 of 1906. A large acreage of coffee is 

 continually being killed out by the 

 rubber trees, with which it has been 

 interplanted, growing up and shading 

 the coffee bushes so that they do not 

 grow vigorously, and only struggle in 

 producing less and less fruit. Selangor 

 possesses 75 per cent, of the whole acre- 

 age. The crops have been on the whole 

 good, but the figure of acreage crop per 

 acre is not of any value, as a great deal 

 of the coffee grown under rubber is 

 included, although it yields little or no 

 fruit. 



The cultivation of tapioca or cassava 

 (Manihot utilissinia), which occupies 

 about 10,000 acres in the Federated 

 Malay States, and more than double 

 that area in the Straits Settlements, 

 continues to give large returns to the 

 careful planter. The tapioca plant is 

 specially free from disease of leaf, stem 

 or root, and its temporary cultivation 

 makes it possible, should any pest 

 attack it, to destroy the affected plants 

 and thus prevent the spread of the 

 disease. During last year experiments 

 have been carried out to show the 

 relative effect of different manures on 

 tapioca, the results of which will appear 

 in a future report. An investigation is 

 being carried on in the scientific labor- 

 atories at Buitenzorg (Java) into the 

 varieties of tapioca used in cultivation, 

 and at the request of Dr. Treub speci- 

 mens were sent from Malaya to be ex- 

 amined and experimented wifh. 



The plots of camphor show that this 

 plant will grow in Malaya at sea-level 



