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as to the need for cleanliness as a preventive against disease. For instance, in 

 the Malay States a few years ago it looked as if he were about to lose his favourite 

 cultivation, that of coconuts, through the attacks of the beetle pest. It is doubt- 

 ful if any amount of teaching would have availed to save this cultivation, but a 

 little compulsion has worked wonders, and has done much for the education of 

 the villager in the need for cleanliness in cultivation. It therefore seems highly 

 probable that a judicious extension of this system to other crops than coconuts, 

 when the opportunity is afforded by some outbreak of disease, might be attended 

 with good results, and afford the opportunity of improving methods as well. 



The fifth point mentioned above for consideration was the possibility of 

 improving native methods of preparing produce for market. As a rule, native 

 produce is of inferior grade to that prepared by European planters. This is partly, 

 of course, the result of bad cultivation, especially of want of proper feeding of 

 the plants, but it is also due to ignorance, indolence, or carelessness in treating 

 the product after it is harvested. The question of improvement is thus on all fours 

 with that of improvement of methods of cultivation dealt with above. The fact 

 that even with the object lessons of European estates before them, and with the 

 practical lesson of lower market prices obtained, natives do not improve their 

 methods, shows how difficult it is to do much in this direction. 



There is also the possibility of improving native stock, whether of cattle, 

 horses, goats, sheep, poultry, or pigs. But here again we must go slowly, and 

 remember that the villager is very limited in capacity for supplying food, &c. If a 

 sudden increase were made, for example, in the size and strength of the draught- 

 cattle, the villager would be unable to feed the new beasts properly, and they in 

 turn would be too large or strong for the agricultural implements in use. Improve- 

 ment on the other hand can at once be put in hand in regard to methods of castration 

 and many other points. 



