Aug. 1. 1000. THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
97 
pretors of coffee lands the necessity of seeing that 
their produce is well cured in p.iiuitioa to being 
well grown. It appears to be admitted tliat in- 
sufficient attention was paid to this point in the 
past ; that the prevalence of high ruling rates 
rendered growers less careful than they should 
have been of the co.ulition of the exported article ; 
but now that the Selangor Planters' Association 
has in its recently piibiisiied annual report publicly 
called upon its members to co sperate in effect- 
ing an iinprovement in this respect, and that 
admonition has been productive of a generally 
expressed desire to obtain better niacltinery, we 
may reasonably expect that the produce of tlie 
future will no longer occupy an ir.ferior place 
in public estimation on account of want of condi- 
tion. So much capital is now being invested in 
rubber planting, that it may be well that means 
should be taken, before the trees arrive at matu- 
rity, to acquire, possibly by examination in other 
countries, a practical working knowledge of the 
most effective and most economical methods of 
collecting, treating and shipping the produce. 
That which is new to planters in the Malay 
Peninsula is well understood elsewhere, and it 
would be a thousand pities that the supply of 
the future should be effected, either as to its 
quantity or quality, by the effort to acquire the 
necessary experience by unassisted endeavour. 
Very Utile advance was made in native plan- 
tations in 1899. The scheme for tiie cultivation 
of rice by His Highness the Sultan, referred to 
in the Administration Report for 1898, still remains 
in abeyance. Rice growing in the district of 
Kuala Selangor has made some little progress, 
but the unhealthiness of the Uoast districts has 
lately been such that all forms of industry have 
been somewhat suspended. Effective drainage 
works were again carried out in Kuala Selangor, 
and a commencement was made with the formation 
of the channels for the irrigation of a selected 
area of land in the Kuang district of Ulu 
Selangor, the whole of which \vU\ eventually be 
occupied by rice planters. A consignment ot seed 
padi was obtained from Siam, and distributed 
among the districts for the purpose of improving 
this year's rice crop, 
KUALA LANGAT DISTRICT, 
RAMIE, COFFEE RUBBER, COCONUTS. 
Progress of Cultivation and Ramie.— The 
progress of Mr. Cyril Baxendale's experiment in 
the cultivation of ramie constitutes one ot the most 
interesting events in the agricultural history of 
Kuala Langat. On Jugra Estate there are now 
some 44 acres planted with several varieties of 
ramie ; the largest of which attains a height of 
some nine or ten feet and flourishes with con- 
siderable luxuriance. My taking charge of the 
district was almost contemporaneous with the 
starting of this valuable experiment, and I have 
been much impressed by the thorough and busi- 
ness like way in which it has been carried out. 
At the beginning of the year, a machine for 
producing fibre was worked on the estate. In 
September Mr. Baxendale brought out from 
England a machine to produce ribbons, and this 
appears to give satisfactory results. The experi- 
ment having occupied a longer period than was 
anticipated, an extension ot the reserve of 2,000 
acres granted in W98 has been applied for. 
Amongst the ramie, coconuts, rubber and bananas 
are planted, and an additional 120 acres have 
been opened for the two former products. 
Rubber andCoconuts.— The other estates of 
100 acres .irid upwards are extending cultivation 
by planting rubber and coconuts. For this pur- 
pose 80 acres at Bandar have been felled by His 
Highness the Sultan, and 120 acre* are being 
opened on KUinang Estate, which will bring up 
the cultivated area on the latter estate to nearly 
400 acres. On Denmark Estate rubber and 
coconuts are being planted amongst the coffee. 
Most applications for small holdings in tlie Jugra 
portion of the district are made on an undertaking 
to plant coconuts. Said Ahmit, soii-in-law of the 
late Sultan, has felled and fenced for his purp ose 
70 acres of recently obtained land. But in many 
Cci^es the actual planting has not [irogressed as 
quickly as I should desire. Owing to the number 
of wild pigs in the district, the planting of 
coconuts in small holdings, unless preceded by 
fencing, is a Sisyphean task ; and I am afraid 
that many of the natives, more especially the 
Malay-^, have not yet sufficiently recovered from 
unfortunate ventures in the cultivation of coffee, 
to brace themselves for another serious agri- 
cultural effort. 
Coffee. —Those cultivators whose coffee was 
well advanced before the slump in prices have 
kept their gardens in a condition, which, under 
the circumstances, is surprisingly good ; though 
I fear that comparatively few under-^taiul the 
economy of systematic weeding. Owing to the 
relative quickness of returns, colfee is a form of 
cultivation which, provided only that fairly good 
prices are anticipated, has considerable attrac- 
tions for the native cultivator. In this connec- 
tion, it is interesting to lecord the receipt in 
June of fifteen applications from Chinese for 
small lioldings at Tclok, made with a view to 
planting coffee as a catch crop for rubber. 
Pepper and Gambier,— The popocr crop on 
the Sepang Estate of the Chee W'oh Ivongsi 
amounted to 5,212.13 pikuls, as conip;ued with 
4,639.76 pikuls in 1898. The quantity of gambler 
collected was rather le^s than in the previous 
year, but this was partly due to a ditlicalty in 
procuring and keeping labour, owing ! o ihe much 
higher wages obtainable on the construction of 
the Labu Valley Railway. Encouraged by the 
high price of pepper, the owners of this estate 
are making additions and improvements to their 
pepper plantations. In January 214 Chinese 
applied for small holdings, of 25 acres or less, 
for the planting of gambier and pepper between 
the boundaries of this estate and the LaUu River. 
The coconut trees round Jugra Hill are answer- 
ing to systematic treatment and have greatly 
improved in appearance. In other parts of the 
district the beetle gives but little trouble. 
COCONUTS IN KUALA SELANGOR 
DISTRICT, 1899. 
I am glad to report that the cultivation of 
coconuts is largely oji the increase. Wild pigs, 
however, do enormous damage amongst the 
younger trees and cannot in some places even 
be kept out by the ordinary sized " gagar " en- 
closing the plantation. I have been shown 
places, at ITjong Parmatang, where the young 
trees have had to be renewed perhaps four or 
five times before they have grown up, B irbed 
wire fencing would keep them out, but the 
