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The writer is well aware that this branch of agriculture is not 
attractive to planters as a class, but this is, in all probability, due to 
the all absorbing interest of rubber cultivation rather than to the 
knowledge gained from practical experience, as to the possibilities of 
such crops. 
I now propose to deal briefly with a number of food-producing 
plants which can be recommended if immediate production of food- 
stuffs is required. 
Maize-. 
This cereal is of great value as an article of human food. The 
ripe grain is used for the production of flour and meal. The green 
cobs form an excellent vegetable. In rubber or coconut clearings, 
not exceeding two years old, I see no special objection to the 
cultivation of this cereal. Hickory King and a red grained Malay 
variety have given fairly good results here, but I do not think it can 
be expected that our yields will equal that of India or Ceylon. 
Maize requires moderately rich soils and may be grown two or three 
successive seasons on the same plot. In this country it probably 
does best in land recently brought under cultivation which has a 
good proportion of humus in the soil and is friable in nature. Poor- 
soils, stiff clays and sour lands are undesirable. A thorough 
preparation of the land is considered essential for the production 
of large maize crops but with virgin land, as it would be 
mostly grown on here, this is not. so necessary, at least for 
the first few crops. The land may be changkolled or forked 
to a depth of a few inches and the seed sown broadcast, after 
rain, on a well prepared surface, at the rate of 10 to 15 lbs. 
per acre, as a sole crop, and lightly turned under ; a fine 
surface tilth is of primary importance. The seed may also be 
dibbled in at distances of 6 inches in rows which are 3 feet apart 
and thinned out, when the plants are well established, to 12 inches 
in the row. Surface weeding is continued and care taken not to 
disturb or break off any of the roots. Weeding might be done, during 
the time the crop is on the land, slightly deeper than is usual, 
in order to retard soil evaporation. The crop takes three to six 
months to mature depending on the variety and the conditions under 
which it is grown. If the cobs are required as a vegetable they are 
pulled while green, otherwise the cobs are left until the leaves 
surrounding them become shrivelled. Proper drying and storage of 
the freshly harvested crop are of very great importance as the seeds 
are most liable to weevil attacks. 
In several respects maize lends itself as a catch-crop. In the 
first place it is an annual, which occupies the land for a few months 
only, and this is an important attribute as an intercrop with young 
rubber. It is possible to continue the ordinary estate weeding and 
permits of periodic deep cultivation if required. The remaining 
stubble when changkolled into the land would improve considerably 
