Miscellaneous. 



112 



PADI. 



The cultivation of rice in Perak and other rice-growing districts is capable of 

 improvement in methods and results, the rice is healthy and the land suited for its 

 cultivation. The irrigation works when completed will improve the cultivation to a 

 great extent by making it possible to apply water in proper quantities and at the 

 most advantageous times for the growth of the plant. There is good reason to 

 suppose that without extra labour a much larger crop could be obtained per acre by 

 improved methods of selection of seed, sowing, cultivation and harvesting. Future 

 reports of my department will, I hope, be able to record progress in this direction. 



OTHER CULTIVATIONS. 



Tapioca, nipah palms and sago have had no serious disease, and cultivation 

 of these products has been carried on succesfully and with profit. The two latter 

 cultivations can with advantage be increased, as there are large areas of land which 

 cannot even by the best drainage-schemes become available for rubber, coconuts or 

 other crop that will not grow in swampy land, and are specially suitable for such 

 plants as the nipah and sago palms. 



AGRI-HORTICULTURAL SHOWS. 



An agricultural show, the third of the annual Agri-Horticultural Shows of 

 the Colony and Federated Malay States, was held in the end of August. A most 

 representative collection of agricultural and horticultural products and native manu- 

 factures was the result, and great interest was shown in all the exhibits by numerous 

 visitors. The rubber classes were exceptionally good, and some samples of rubber, 

 as good quality as has ever been produced, were exhibited and judged. The 

 Superintendent, Government Plantations, Perak. showed a fine series of fruit and 

 vegetables from the Hill Gardens, which demonstrated how well many European 

 vegetables will grow at higher elevations if properly cultivated. He also exhibited 

 an interesting collection of rubber samples of both Ficus (Rambong) and Hevea (Para) 

 from Kuala Kangsar. That such shows are of value as instructors of the methods and 

 results of agriculture and horticulture was evident by the care with which many of 

 the exhibits were examined, and by the questions asked of exhibitors and others as 

 to methods of preparation, culture, etc. 



EXPERIMENTAL PLANTATIONS, BATU TIGA. 



The report of the Superintendent, Experimental Plantations, Batu Tiga, is 

 annexed, and gives an account of the various plants cultivated there. The Para trees, 

 now three years old, have been rather handicapped by the attacks of Termes gestroi 

 and a fungus— a species of Fomes — on their roots. The Camphor plot is interesting 

 and shows that this plant can be grown successfully at low elevations. It is hoped 

 that when the European planter has time to turn his attention away for a short 

 time from rubber, that camphor may become a useful secondary cultivation. The 

 price of camphor is high, and plants three or four years old should yield a very con- 

 siderable profit. 



GOVERNMENT PLANTATIONS, PERAK. 



The report of the Superintendent, Government Plantations, Perak, is also 

 annexed. This is a record of excellent work, both in regard to horticulture and flori- 

 culture at the Hill Garden where temperate climate plants are reared, and the 

 control of the gardens at Taiping and Kuala Kangsar, where tropical plants are 

 cultivated. The Taiping garden has very greatly improved under the care of Mr. 

 Campbell, and is now one of the most picturesque ornamental gardens in the East. 



J. B. CARRUTHERS, 

 Director of Agriculture and Government Botanist, F.M.S. 



