446’ 
plant and as a green manure. In Batu Tiga about six acres 
of it have been planted up. The plants have made a dense 
cover and have succeeded in keeping in check all weeds 
except lalang. 
This pestilent weed which was in the ground or in 
the immediate neighbourhood before the experiment start- 
ed, seems to take complete possession of the plots wherever 
it comes up. The ground in which lalang patches were 
growing was dug up and the roots picked before the plants 
were put in. 
The mimosa had made good headway before the lalang 
got up, but once the latter began to get away it grow and 
spread rapidly, and now looks like killing out the mimosa, 
which was at one time a dense mass over a foot high. On 
the other hand, in some places where there was no lalang 
before planting, none has come up. 
Except where it encroaches from an adjacent lalang 
patch it is possible that if the ground were covered up as 
soon as burnt off, and before lalang had time to get in, that 
it might then act as a preventative and keep lalang out; 
but of this we have as yet had no opportunity of judging. ' 
Three plots of mimosa, each a tenth of an acre, were 
cut over to six inches above the ground once during the year 
and the fresh cutting weighed with a view to finding the 
amount of mulching material rendered available by this 
process. 
The plots cut over were about 10 months old and well 
covered, the average total of mulching material worked out 
at 2,950 lbs. per acre. 
Desmodium triflorum. — This plant which gave some 
promise last year, and which, if established, would make an 
ideal cover plant, has been given up owing to its liability 
to attacks of insect pests. The difficulty of establishing 
it would also make it impracticable for estate work. 
Tephrosia.— Two species of Tephrosia ( Candida and 
purpurea) have been tried during the year, both of which 
are very much alike in habit. The plant grows about 15 to 
30 inches high. It has the advantage over crotalaria in 
that it is dwarf er in habit and therefore better adapted for 
planting in young clearings. 
Tephrosia Candida. — A small supply of seed of this 
plant was received and sown in September. The seeds 
germinated well and were up in a week, the plant grow 
quickly to a height of about 15 inches, after which upward 
growth was slow and the side growths began to develop. 
The ground was well covered about two months after sow- 
