THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July 1, 1901. 
prominently before the public will be seen from 
reference to the subject elsewhere in this report, but 
it must be admitted that we are far from being 
satisfied with our curing, though year by year no 
doubt the quality improves. There is a growing 
feeling that possibly a more acceptable coffee may 
be produced by sun-drying the cherry, and your 
1901-1902 report will undoubtedly supply you with 
the result of several systematic experiments which 
are now being undertaken. 
Rubber rFewtt. Braziliensis ox Para).— This variety 
of Rubber continues to come on exceedingly satistiic- 
torily, the average growth of trees from nine months 
upwards amounting to about 1 foot per mensem, 
whilst at three years their average circumference 
at 3 feet from the ground is about 16 inches. Ihis 
far exceeds anything reported from Ceylon and other 
countries where Para is being planted, and we con-- 
sider that Mr. Curtis's description, in the 1900 annual 
Report on the Botanical Gardens of the Colony, ot 
the tapping of the 15-year-old Para tree in the 
Gardens at Penang, is conclusive evidence of the 
contention of the writer " that in this cultivation lies 
a source of wealth of the greatest importance.' in 
two years 12* lb. of dry marketable rubber were 
procured " without any apparent injurious result to 
the health of this tree," and the conditions under 
which it is growing are reported as anything but 
favourable. It appears, in the opinion of the dittereut 
Directors of the Botanical Gardens, that the size ot 
a tree more than its age indicates its fitness for 
tapping, and probably a circumference of 30 inches i 
feet from the ground is the limit at which attempts 
to extract the rubber should be commenced- Re- 
ports from London show that prices for Para have 
of late declined, one reason alleged being the falling- 
off in the demand for bicycles, but in Para rubber 
we have undoubtedly the most valuable and highest 
ouality rubber in the world, and your Committee 
feel that the large number of trees, amounting now 
to several millions, planted in the Federated Malay 
States must, in the not very distant future, prove 
a source of revenue which will largely recoup the 
planters for the losses which they have sustained 
through the decline in value of Liberian coffee. 
Ficus Elastica (GwMa 7iam&on(/).— The only interes- 
ting fact that your Committee have to report over 
and above the continued luxuriant growth of this 
tree is the wonderful result obtained by Mr. R. Derry, 
of Perak of 25 lb. per tree from two 19-year-old 
trees at' Kuala Kangsar in one tapping. In your 
Annual Report for 1899-1900 it was recorded that 
some Ficus Elastica rubber which was sent homo 
by iMr Derry was valued at 3/6 per lb as against 3/10 
for the Para rubber sent to London for sale by the 
same gentlemen. Assuming, then that the F. Elastica 
rubber resulting from the above-mentioned tapping 
in any way approximates in value the quotation for 
the former shipment, it is clear that, in this variety 
also planters will have a valuable source of revenue. 
Mr 'Derry's conclusions on the subject of tapping 
Ficus Elastica are that trees may probably be first 
worked when from four to five years old, and that 
the average yield should amount to 4 lb. for every 
year of the tree's age, the cost of collection, both 
with Para and Ficus Elastica, being from 30 cents to 
3,5 cents— I.e., Ihd. to 9d. per pound. 
Coconuts. — During the past year many reports hav^ 
come to hand of trees planted as seedlings, about 2 
feet high, from two years and ten months, to three 
years Hnd three months ago, throwing out bunches 
of spike an.J blossoiu which has set well, and now 
form sturdy bunches of young nuts. These coconuts 
are the common variety whioh have hitherto been 
huppoHcd only to commence flowering in their fifth 
to sixth year, and there can be no doubt that, as 
with both kinds of rubber, the growth of our coconut 
trees also is quite abnormal. There are thousands of 
a"re8 of alluvial land in the Malay Peninsula, cap- 
able of being converted into flourishing rubber and 
coconut properties, and your Committee feel that, 
when the investing public know and realise this, 
agriculture in the Malay Peninsula will receive a 
stimulus which will lead to infinitely more extensive 
operations than we have had any experience of in 
the past. 
Sugar. — Your Committee hear that great success 
has attended the sugar industry in Perak during the 
past year, and that enormous extensions are being 
contemplated. Unfortunately, however, Perak takes 
little interest in our Association, and we are not in 
a position to supply you with any data. 
Insect Pests. — The season under review has, on 
the whole in Selangor, been free of severe attacks of 
insect pests, the bee hawk moth caterpillar has broken 
out rather badly on a few estates, but no damage to 
speak of has been done, the eggs, caterpillars, 
chrysalids and moths having been promptly collected 
by hand and destroyed. In Negri Sembilau, however, 
ajbad outbreak is reported, which led, in one instance, 
to the cutting out of all the coffee on a large Chinese 
estate, and caused some considerable damage to a 
neighbouring property. Various caterpillars and 
borers have been found on rubber trees of both 
kinds, white ants have continued to do a certain 
amount of damage and coconut beetles have had 
to be regularly collected , but remedies of all kinds 
have been tried, generally with some measure of 
success, and the discovery has been made that a 
decoction of " tuba " roots applied to the base of 
affected trees is apparently so efficacious that the 
white ant known as " Termes gestroi' is completely 
kept under by it. Such a simple remedy, involving as 
it does only the planting up of an acre or two of this 
quick-growing creeper, which ia easily procurable 
and equally easily propagated by cuttings, is a 
most valuable discovery, and there seems no reason 
why, by continued and intelligent effort, this the 
worst and most destructive pest known to us at pre- 
sent should not be completely mastere and eventually 
cease to give us any trouble. 
MANGOES. 
If mangoes are not yet the most extensively grown 
and abundant fruit in Queensland, they soon will be. 
They thrive vigorously from Southpoit to Cape York. 
Almost everyone having a garden goes in for mangoes, 
but too frequently are regardless of the quality of 
the fruit, and hence really good mangoes are rare. 
Some growers realise this, and take all the care they 
can to plant nothing but the best kinds. Had this 
been done from the first, Queensland would now be 
celebrated for her mangoes, and prices would be 
more satisfactory. As an evidence of the increasing 
appreciation of choice fruit by growers, a seedsman 
has during the last three years realised 2s. 6d. each 
for some fine specimens^ 1 learnt with regret, at 
the market, that hundreds of cases had been thrown 
away this season for want of purchasers. Another, 
however, told me he had always been able to sell 
good mangoes. It has been recorded that in some 
places up North mangoes have been allowed to rot 
on the ground, the grower being unuble to sell or 
use them. This should not be so, for there are 
many purposes for which mangoes may be used 
besides as a table fruit. The following informaciou, 
in no case original, may prove interesting and useful 
to some of your readers : — A very delicious preserve 
is made by simply peeling them when unripe but 
nearly full-grown; slice, place in a dish, pile on 
sugar, and bake in a slow oven. When properly pre- 
pared this preserve is unexcelled, and would meet 
with a large demand in Europe and America, as we 1 
as the Southern colonies. The making of mango 
jam is well-known to all housewives, its variation in 
excellence is doubtless owing to the quality of the 
fruit and sugar, also to the amount of care taken in 
cooking. The fruit should always be peeled. I am 
