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were unable to take action without the sanction of their directors. 
Especially at this time the problem was a very important one, and 
the time was very opportune to discuss it in the District Planters’ 
Associations. (Hear, hear.) 
Mr. Berenger, of the Taiping Gardens, in supporting what 
Mr. Eaton .had said, remarked that he had for a long time taken an 
interest in the matter, not from the theoretical side alone, for he had 
been 10 years on rubber estates and knew the conditions of things. 
There was certainly a large number of products that could be grown. 
The ordinary cooly, as they knew, had no idea of even looking after 
himself, so that they should do these things for him. A small 
portion of land might be set apart and the cooly would very soon 
know what to do with it. Some assistance might, of course, be given 
in the form of fertilizers. Such things like basic slag and other 
chemical manures could not, of course, be got easily now, but there 
were some b 3 r -products, like coconut poonac and ground-nut meal, 
that would be very good. 
The speaker described a certain experiment with this meal 
on lalang-ridden land which gave surprising results. Cattle manure 
in this country was not very rich, as it was usually exposed to the 
weather, so that such elements as phosphoric acid, etc., were washed 
away. He knew of some planters who said that they had even gone 
to the extent of buying cattle for the sake of the manure, but the 
results were not very encouraging. There was no reason why 
it should not succeed if they did it properly. Some of the bigger 
estates ought to go in for something in the nature of practical 
farming and they would find that it did not cost very much, nor 
would the labour required exert any great strain on their resources. 
Mr. Pinching, after saying that there were several estates that 
used cattle manure, remarked that in regard to the growing of 
food-stuffs on estates he was afraid most planters would say that they 
had enough on their hands with rubber. He believed that soine 
estates had made efforts of one kind or another but had not met 
with success. One estate even tried to grow rice but found that they 
suffered a great loss. 
Mr. A. G. G-. Ellis, Assistant Agricultural Inspector, spoke of 
an estate in Perak where the manager gave his coolies small plots 
and offered a prize for the best kept garden. The coolies became 
quite interested and excellent results were ^achieved. He had 
suggested the same thing to others, and he believed that it was 
being taken up. 
Mr. Coombs replying to the query as to the possibilities of 
planters producing rice on estates stated that without wishing to in 
any way disparage efforts in this direction be felt that it would be 
of service to indicate the following points : (a) That dry land padi 
is essentially a “ first crop ” from newly-felled jungle land or from 
