38 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July 1. 1901. 
UNITED PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION, F. 
MALAY STATES. 
{Extracts from Report for 1900.) 
ExpEitiMENTAL GARDENS.— Mr Stanley Arden has 
been sent out from Kew Oardeus and, after a period 
spent in Ceylon, acquainting himself with the nnethods 
in vogue over there, visiting the various Malay States 
with their Botanical Gar^lens, and becoming kuowa 
to the planters, has now been entrusted with the 
opening of an Experimental Garden. At the time of 
writing this report the locality is still under discussion, 
though probably one of the blocks situated near 
Sunuei Rengau will be tlie situation selected. The 
headquarters of the Manager, locality of the garden, 
products to be treated, &c, have all formed the subjects 
of correspondence between the Government and the 
Association. 
Proposed Legislation por Dealing with Aban- 
doned OR Neslected CorFEE Estates — The Chair- 
man informed the meetii/g that, after very careful 
consideration, the Committee had come fco the conclu- 
sion that they were not in a position to recommend 
legislation, inasmuch as it was the experience of 
members that ''shuck" estates were never attacked, 
but only tine coffee, the owners of which would take 
prompt measures to keep the pest within bounds, 
and that chey therefore proposed with the sanction of 
the meeting to forward the following resolution to the 
Government: — "That the Committee of the United 
Planters' Association do not feel disposed to take on 
themselves to recommend legislation on their own 
responsibility, but desire to express their great sense 
of the interest and assistance which the Government 
have shown in the matter, more particularly in 
connection with the remedial measures proposed by 
the Acting British Resident, Negri Sembilan." This 
resolution was eventually carried by 14 to 4. 
Export of Coffee to Europe. — For some con- 
sideiable time the question of finding a better market 
than Singapore has been before the Planting Com- 
munity ; various solutions were suggested!! A bonded 
warehouse where coffee could be stored to enable it 
to mature has been and is still under discussion. An 
assessment of all estates to enable the Association 
to advertise has also been proposed. During 
the past year, and very largely on the recommenda- 
tion of Mr. T Haslop Hill, who has taken infinite pains 
in London to discuss the question, samples were sent 
home to Messrs. Sanderson & Co., of Mincing Lane. 
These samples were on the whole favourably reported 
upon, and the prices quoted were distinctly higher than 
those then obtainable in Singapore. The Association, 
on receiving guarantees of over 100 cwt. a month from 
various niembeis, decided to try the experiment of 
monthly i-hipmrrits. A special Committee of Selangor 
and Negri Sembilan Planters was elected, but owing to 
various initial difficulties, the first shipment has onlv 
recently been forwarded, the result of the sale bring 
still unknown. It may be of interest to the Associa- 
tion to learn that the small retail business initiated by 
one of the Selai.gor Estates, under the name of the 
Kiijang Coffee Co., is pro'iressing favourably and, 
though at one time it was thought possible that the 
venture would have to stop, recent reports go to show 
that the monthly gutput, though small, is an increasing, 
and to a small extent a paying, venture. Wg understand 
that a similar concern is wen king successfully in Edin- 
burgh. The fact that at various Temperance Exhibi- 
tions the Kajang Company's stall has earned bronze 
and gold medals proves that, if properly treated, our 
Malay cofiee finds favour. 
An interesting experiment is also being tried. Some 
12 pikuls of coffee have been bought from the Port 
Dii ksoD Coffee Cuiing Mill by the Association, five 
pikuls of which have been sent to Aden and the 
remainder kjpt at Port Dickson, with the object 
of testing the system of storing coffee in a dry place 
before putting it on the market. Six months 
was the period decided upon and this has not yet 
elapsed. 
tTbe Notes on " Planting Products" will be copied 
in full into our Tropical Agriculturist.— 'Ed. T.A.j 
SOME CONDITIONS OP COCOA : 
ATTENDANT ON THE GROWING OF 
SUCKERS. 
Tlie followinf,' is the paper on the above subject, 
read before the Uva Cocoa Committee on the 11th 
May, by Mr. L. Haweis :— 
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen. — There can be 
little doubt that, if canker had never made its ap- 
pearance, the question of growing suckers on cocoa 
had never cropped up ; therefore, at the outset, 
euckcr-growing should be regarded as a method of 
defence against canker, and in no other light. Inci- 
dent on the growing of suckers, however, it has been 
noticed how, generally speaking, the spread of a tree 
may be increased and its height curtailed, and, as 
this introduces quite another element into' the ques- 
tion, the original motive for their cultivation is apt 
to be lost sight of, and even sacrificed to what" at 
existing distances must be the very uncertain advan- 
tage of growing a broader tree. This advan- 
tage, or possibly disadvantage, I will not dwell on 
here ; suffice it to say that sucker-growing for purposes 
of yield is contrary to all tenets of fruit-culture, and 
we have yet to learn that these do not apply to 
cocoa. I allude to the fact that fruit-trees bear best 
when kept to the primary branches ; and if " spread" 
is the objective the means must be sought not in 
sucker-growing but in pruning 
There is an idea that the less the knife is used up- 
on cocoa the better. It is obvious that any excess of its 
use must be deleterious but, to avoid excess, it is not 
necessary to go to the opposite extreme ; that is no 
logical or sensible conclusion. 
In the 
WEST INDIES, 
I believe, the cocoa tree, like fruit-trees al 
the world over, is subject to a certain amonnl 
of pruning; and pruning, as pruning, is not con- 
fined to what in relation to cocoa we call "suckers" 
and "gormaudisers." The reason why the opinion 
IS prevalent in Ceylon is owing probably to the 
fact that cocoa— Caraccas, at any rate— if carefully 
tended from its youth up, requires very little pruning 
of the larger branches and we have consequently been 
misled into the idea that the pruning of these larger 
branches is wholly unnecessary. Further it is said that 
every cut m a cocoa-tree is a door for a parasite to 
enter, but this applies chiefly, i take it, to the older 
wood and, considei+ng the small amount of pruning 
needed, it is not absolutely unpractical to suggest that 
all larger cuts be treated with tar or some other 
preservative less injurious to green wood. On the 
other hand the objection strikes me as being of aca- 
demic interest in comparison with the immense good 
obtained by a judicious use of the knife ; theoretically 
the door is open, practically it is compara- 
tively ^ rarely utilised, except possibly by white 
ants— -(and white ants do not like tar, or a kerosine 
emulsion)— while borers of all sorts show no particular 
preference for a cut surface, but prefer rather their 
own insidious method of the combined gimlet-and- 
corkscrew variety in greener and softer wood. But it 
is also a fact that very old wood is often actually softer 
than younger wood, and this may help to explain why 
such old wood does in many cases actually fall a prey 
to all sorts of insects— scavengers and others. This 
brings me round to my original point, for when the 
old wood arrives at the stage when on account of its 
softness it atti-acts pests, it seems fairly reasonable to 
cut it out. And this wood it is which most planters will 
believe with me to be most subject to canker. 
