512 PETOH : 



rubber is not liked as a shade tree for cacao, it is worth while 

 considering if the above figures should not deter the wholesale 

 destruction of rubber trees as shade." 



In the " Tropical Agriculturist " for 1893 (Vol. XII., p. 685) 

 the editor A^Tote : " We regret to learn from Mr. Vollar that his 

 rubber cultivation in Dumbara is not likely to be permanent. 

 The Cearas were originally planted as shade trees for the 

 cacao, but they have not proved very suitable for this purpose, 

 and will probably have to be ctit down. Meantime, perhaps 

 5,000 lb. of rubber will be collected on Pallekelle this season. 

 A cooly by beginning the tapping early in the morning usually 

 gets 3 lb. of rubber in the liquid or soft state, which hardens 

 and dries down to perhaps half that weight. There is no 

 fortune to be made out of this, considering how long the 

 rubber trees have to grow before yielding an appreciable 

 quantity of milk." Later in the year Ceara was declared a 

 failure as a shade tree {T. A., XIII., p. 318). 



In 1899 {T. A., XIX., pp. 91, 93) the editors of the " Tropical 

 Agriculturist " attempted a census of the surviving Ceara 

 trees. It was found that in general they had been rooted out. 

 Crystal Hill reported 1 acre left out of 30 acres in 1886, 

 the oldest trees eighteen years ; Hantane, which had 10 

 acres in 1886, had then none ; Kandanewera had none left 

 out of 6,000, while from the same number Hurstpierpoint had 

 a few seventeen-year old trees. Gikiyanakanda and Wihare- 

 gama possessed a few trees fifteen years old, while many others 

 <jf the same ago were scattered over the Island. 



Ceylon's first rubber boom finished in 1884. By that time 

 it was proved that, with the methods then available, Ceara 

 rubber would not pay ; and it may bo said that no methods 

 have since been evolved which will give a return which will 

 satisfy the Ceylon planter. Indeed, the methods now in 

 vogue do not show any advance on those of 1883 ; and, as 

 Trimon wTote in that year, we still " await only the discovery 

 of a process by which the product can be cheaply and exhaus- 

 tively extracted." 



It is interesting to note that many of the problems of 

 1883 were idontioal with those of twenty years later in the 

 early days" of Hovoa. There was the question of wide and 



