70 



The Supplement to the Tropiaal Agriculturist 



Usually, however, they are formed, but are 

 riot strong enough to produce good nuts. 

 Such nuts as are given by diseased trees are of 

 bad quality, the copra is hard and gives little 

 oil. and the water inside the nut is disagreeable 

 in taste and diminished in quantity. Gradually, 

 as the palm gets more and mere weakened, the 

 new leaves that are formed are smaller than 

 those of healthy trees. The centre shoot, that 

 stands straight up in the middle of the crown, 

 gets shortened and turns yellow or may even 

 wither completely. After five or ten years the 

 diseased palm will dry up altogether and the 

 head falls off. This is fairly common in some 

 places as in the Minachil Taluq of Travaucore, 

 while in others, at Changanachery, very few 

 trees have died even though some of them have 

 been barren for many years. 



Areca palms are attacked in the same way. 

 As they are smaller and more delicate they be- 

 come barren more quickly than coconuts, and 

 they may be killed in from three or five years, 

 though after they remain much longer without 

 dying. They are never killed in three months 

 as with the koleroga disease which attacks areca 

 palms in Mysore. This disease has caused such 

 loss in some villages in Travancore that there is 

 now only one quarter of the yield of coconuts in 

 these places that there used to be some years 

 ago. It is caused by a little " fungus" which 

 attacks the roots in the soil and causes them 

 to rot. This is so small that it cannrt be seen 

 without great difficulty. It lives and grows in 

 the soil, but can only move alnng underground 

 very slowly. It has taken about ten years to 

 get from one village to another, only a few miles 

 away. If people take soil or coconut roots from 

 a diseased garden and put them into a healthy 

 garden, the fungus maybe brought along in the 

 soil or roots, and may begin to attack healthy trees 

 at once. This must be t he way it has spread over 

 a large part of North Travancore in the 

 last twenty years, for in this manner it can, 

 of course, be made to travel quickly. Hence 

 people should be very careful not to let any soil 

 or roots from a diseased garden into their gar- 

 dens. The only way to kill the " fungus ' is 

 to dig up and burn the roots of diseased tret-s 

 as soon any are noticed. If all the owners of 

 coconut and areca gardens will do this, there 

 is a good chance that the disease will not get 

 established in Malabar. It will require great 

 watchfulness, and all must unite in keeping a 

 look-out for caaes ; for if a few trees are left 

 diseased they will serve to harbour the " fun- 

 gus " and enable it to spread in the soil, and 



attack all the palms near by. The trees 

 should be dug up and the roots burnt as soon 

 as they are noticed to be diseased, as, even 

 though the owner may lose a few nuts by dig- 

 ging up the palm, the loss will be small, and 

 will save his other trees. The palms do not 

 ever seem to recover, and it is better to lose 

 a little ac once than a great deal later or by 

 allowing all the trees to get attacked. 



RUBBER AND COCONUTS IN 

 KELANTAN. 



(From Mr W A Graham's latest report on the 



Stale of Kelantan.) 

 A large number of inquiries concerning land 

 for rubber-planting were received during the 

 year. These led to further negotiations with 

 many parties, some of which resulted in the tak- 

 ing up of land while several applications were 

 pending at the end of the year. The area of land 

 taken up amounted to 14,000 areas of which 

 8,000 are situated within the Duff Company's 

 Concession. An anangemeut was arrived at by 

 which the Duff Company, although all its rights 

 as now defined terminate with the year 1904, 

 was enabled to enter into negotiations with pos- 

 sible rubber planters for long leases, the Govern- 

 ment agreeing, under conditions, to recognise 

 such leases as may not have expired at the date 

 when the Company's rights cease. The soil and 

 climate of Kelantan have been reported on as 

 very suitable for rubber planting and land is 

 being leased to planters on exceptionally easy 

 conditions. Rubber already planted isall doing 

 well and the young trees compare favourably 

 with those of the other Malay States. The paddy 

 crop for theyear 1,324, was an exceptionally good 

 one as is fully testified by the large amount of 

 paddy exported and the low price of rice which 

 has obtained locally since the crop was reaped. 

 A large area of new paddy land was opened up 

 and it seems that this form of agriculture is 

 about to dovolop extensively under the new con- 

 dition of Government. Although more copra 

 was manufactured than during last year, the 

 coconut crop was not up to the average, and this 

 seems to have been the case elsewhere, judging 

 by the high prices which were paid in 

 Singapore for copra. The number of young 

 coconut trees planted was less than at any time 

 during the past three years, available land 

 being now all required for rubber. The planting 

 of rubber has quite caught the fancy of the 

 Malay cultivator. Stories of the large profits 

 to be secured from rubber and of the great areas 



