Gums Resins, 



214 



[March, 1909. 



mind such methods are worse than 

 sacrilege, sees that the growth of the 

 trees is as good as before, and remembers 

 the money that has been saved, he will 

 no longer consider bare soil the acme of 

 good planting. 



The chief argument that I have per- 

 sonally met with among planters is 

 "Yes, if you could convince my'V.A.' 

 or my Directors, bat unless they are 

 convinced I am powerless,'' but this 

 difficulty can be removed by the planter 

 clearly showing by measurement of trees 

 and figures of decrease of cost on a small 

 plot that the method is correct. It is 

 difficult to remove fixed and long stand- 

 ing views as to tropical cultivation from 

 the minds of men who have experience, 

 but the stern tacts of dollars and cents 

 saved without diminution of vigour in 

 the rubber trees when shown will 

 convert. 



Before leaving: this question I may be 

 allowed to quote from Dr. E. B. Vorkee's 

 recent work on agriculture published 

 during last year. 



This is written in regard to American 

 agriculture, where the conditions are 

 not so unfavourable for clean weeding 

 as in tropical countries Avith a heavy 

 rainfall. 



" To keep the land constantly occupied 

 with growing plants is particularly im- 

 portant, both in the hot summer and in 

 fall and spring. The covering of the 

 land in summer prevents the temper- 

 ature rising so high as to destroy the 

 organisms in the soil, while the covering 

 in fall and spring prevents the mechani- 

 cal losses that occur from wind and rain 

 and by the carrying away of food in the 

 soil water." 



Dr, Alfred Russel Wallace, whose 

 name will always be associated with 

 Malayan regions, writes to me in regard 

 to the protective forest belts which 

 have been, and are being, laid out 

 through the Federated Malay States : 

 " They prevent the loss of soil which can 

 never be replaced." The italics are Dr. 

 Wallace's. This is also true of the soil 

 lost by clean weeding. 



On some estates there are growing 

 among the weeds leguminous plants 

 which possess nitrogenous nodules on 

 their roots, and it may be possible in 

 these cases for coolies to be shown how 

 to leave these plants in weeding, so that 

 in a short time they may get entire 

 possession of the field and weeding may 

 be discontinued. Leguminous plants can 

 often be recognised by those unacquaint- 

 ed with botany, their leaves being 

 divided, and in appearance like those 

 of the vetch, pea, mimosa, cassia or 

 crotalaria. 



As the chief cost of an estate until its 

 profit-earning period is that of weeding, 

 any suggestion as to the reduction of 

 that prime expense should meet with 

 consideration. 



If every estate would set apart a 

 portion of their newly-opened clearings 

 for an experiment with a green manure, 

 keeping a record of the cost of putting 

 the land into Crotalaria, Mimosa, 

 Desmodium and whatever other useful 

 plant is selected, and recording the 

 money spent on adjoining land cultivated 

 on the existing clean-weeding method, 

 and carefully measuring the trees on 

 each place to see the relative progress, 

 I have little doubt that the benefit of 

 keeping the soil covered, instead of 

 constantly scraping off the weeds, will 

 be seen. 



That the planter should adopt sugges- 

 tions made by scientific experts without 

 weighing them carefully is not to be 

 expected, but what is wanted is that 

 each practical man should satisfy himself 

 by careful trial that this proposal in 

 regard to cultivation of rubber estates 

 is feasible. 



Even if this experiment results in a 

 loss of money and the destruction of a 

 few acres of rubber he cannot be blamed 

 in making it, considering the large 

 economy that is to be effected if it is 

 proved to be successful. 



Weed Killing by Spraying. 



The experiments in regard to the 

 eradication of lalang and other weeds 

 by means of spraying with a solution 

 of arsenite of soda were carried on 

 both by the department and by several 

 planters with encouraging success. 

 The difficulties in regard to the pro- 

 hibitive cost which was charged locally 

 has been to some extent overcome, and 

 supplies of this substance were obtained 

 from Calcutta at one-fifth of that charged 

 in the Federated Malay States. 



This cost is, however, too great ; it can 

 be obtained in England at a cost, in- 

 cluding freight to Port Swettenham, at 

 about 12 cents per lb. As the chief cost 

 in this method of destroying weeds is 

 the cost of the material used in the 

 spray, it is most important to obtain the 

 arsenite of soda as cheaply as possible. 

 The difficulty in regard to sprayers has 

 also been to a great extent overcome, 

 and though it is not yet possible to get 

 suitable sprayers locally, yet some 

 English and American machines at 

 varying prices from SI for hand sprayers 

 to $250 for steam power have been in- 

 vestigated and shown to be suitable to 

 the purpose, 



