THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Febuuary 17, 1905. 



RUBBER TAPPING IN CEYLON. 



Several references to the work done on the 

 important Kepiti^alla estate, in the Matale district of 

 Ceylon, have already appeared in the ArjricuUural 

 Kexi's. In Vol. II, p. 2C.3, information was given as to 

 the collection and preparation of rubber, while in 

 a more recent issue (Vol. V, p. .5), the method of 

 collecting seed on the same estate was described. 



As a typical example of a well-worked plantation 

 of cacao and Hcvca hrdsilifnsis, a brief account of 

 rubber tapping on Kepitigalla estate is given in the 

 Jy„r,„ Buhhrr Worhl for January 1, 1906. The 

 following is extracted from this article :— 



There are now about 1,-tOO acres ia rubber on Kepiti- 

 galla, of which 830 acres form the old estate and 570 are 

 new clearings. This all lies along steep hillsides and faces 

 due west. In this there is a jieculiar advantage. The whole 

 place being in the .shade of the hill until a comparatively 

 late hour of the morning, tapping can be carried on until 

 10 or 10.30 a.m. Kepitigalla was first and foremost a cacao 

 estate, the rubber being planted with the primary object of 

 giving shade to tlie cacao, with the thought that if rubber 

 fcliould in'ovc a paying thing, the trees would be there to 

 produce it. The oldest ti-ees were planted along the roads 

 and ravines, and gradually throughout the cacao, so that now, 

 from certain elevated points, one can look over a fine stretch 

 of Ilivea foliage. The rubber trees tower well over the cacao. 

 The rubber is planted through alternate lines of cacao 

 24: feet by 12 feet, and along the roads, ravine.s, etc., 12 feet 

 by 12 feet. [This would give 15-j and 330 rubber trees per 

 acre, respectively. — The Editor.] 



The land has an elevation of from 600 to 2,000 feet ; 

 the .soil is of a generally rocky, and in parts, very rocky 

 description, but it is particularly good, and goes down 

 deep so that the rubber trees thrive well. In places they 

 seem to be growing out of sheer rock, and, where the 

 enormous taproot of the tree finds scope to grow is a puzzle. 

 On one road which had to be widened, the .soil was dug away 

 from the bank to a height of .5 feet, cxjiosing to this length 

 the great tap and thick surface roots of two Jleveas, which 

 now stand right out from the corner of the bank. The 

 trees apparently have not been in the least affected by this 

 treatment. 



Killing a Hivm tree by overtapping has not yet been 

 reported in Ceylon. In the case of wounds a splash of tar 

 keeps out fungus sjiores, and the bark gradually closes over 

 the gaping wound. No tree is tapped until it is at least of 

 20 inches girth at 3 feet from the ground, and the older trees 

 are from 50 to GO inches or more in circumference. 



Mr. Holloway has always been in favour of single, short, 

 obtuse Y cuts, up and down the stem. According to its girth 

 each tree carries six, eight, or ten cups at a single tapping. 

 The trees are tapped twice during the morning, and there is 

 no evening tapping. 



The Holloway tapping knife is an improved A'-cutting 

 knife. It is heavier than the old knife * and has movable 

 blades. The V-bladc head is fastened to the handle by two 

 small screws and nuts, and a blade, when worn down after 

 four months' use, is easily replaced. The tapper on arriving 



♦ This lild knife was iigured in the ArjricuHnml Ne^cs 

 (Vol. II, p. 205), fig. 10. [Ed. A.N.] 



at the factory with his latex has to strain it, place it in the 

 coagulating pans, and set these out to coagulate. Each 

 man's late.x is kept se[iarate and numbered, so that it can 

 at once be seen if a man is doing his work )>roperly, and if 

 not, he is given a ' half name ' for his day's work. The- 

 coagulated biscuits are next day pa.ssed through a mangle 

 and then sent into the hot air drying room, with a tempera- 

 ture of 100' to 105". The rubber is [iractically dry after one- 

 day there, and is then jiassed into the drying and store-room^ 

 where it remains luitil several thousand pounds are ready' to 

 be graded according to colour, and [lacked for tran.sport to 

 Colombo. 



ONION CULTIVATION IN THE 

 SOUTH-WEST. 



The following note on the sowing of onion seed in 

 beds and later transplanting to the field has been 

 taken from the Farmers Bulletin, Xo. 233, U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture {E:(iirriiri.eiit Siafioii 

 Wurl; XXXI) :— 



Sowing onion seed in beds or cold frames and later 

 tran-sjilanting to the field has been found to be more- 

 satisfactory in New Mexico, than sowing the seed in the tield.. 

 However, practically all the onions now grown in New 

 Mexico are from seed .sown in the field. When sown in beds 

 and transplanted, from 3 to 4 5 lb. of seed are required, 

 while if the seed is sown directly in the field, 4 to C Bb. are 

 required. At that station it has been found better to 

 transplant in the latter part of February or early in March, 

 even if the onions are only one-half as large as a lead pencil, 

 than to wait until later in the season. It has been found 

 that a boy can drop the onions for about three planters. 

 A good planter will set 5,000 jiJants per day. With hand 

 cultivation, it is recommended that the rows be about 15 

 inches ajiart, and the onions set 4 to 4-5 inches distant in the 

 row. The average estimated cost at the station for tran.s- 

 planting, for a period of three years, has been about §30'00 

 per acre, while the cost of thinning onions grown from seed 

 in the field has been ^'4100 per acre. 



From time to time, there liave appeared in the 

 ArjricuUural Kcus hints on the cultivation of this 

 vegetable : chief among them being an illustrated article 

 in Vol. II, pp. 2!t4-.3, and an editorial on the subject in 

 in Vol. Ill, p. 289. In addition to these notes, further 

 and fuller information may be obtained from j)amphlet 

 No. 16, Hints on Onicn Culti^'atimi, issued by the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture. 



COTTON AND RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



The following extract from the Demerara Argosy, 

 of January 20, 1906, gives a brief account of cotton 

 and rice experiments conducted by Mr. Fasea on behalf 

 of the Board of Agriculture on plantation Aurora: — 



The four varieties of Egyptian cotton weie found to be 

 doing fairly well, while the Sea Is'and was growing luxuri- 

 antly. The plants are very vigorous, and there is every 

 promise of a good crop being readied. The soil at Aurora is 

 a somev.hat light loam, and the mode of growth bears no 

 resemblance to the manner in which cotton grows on the 

 clay soils of the colony. 



ilr. Pasea is also experimenting with the varieties of 

 rice, the .seeds having been .supplied to him fioni the I'otanic 

 Gardens. Much inipnrtance i- attached by the Board of 

 Agriculture to these experiments, carried I'Ut as they are 

 on abandoned cane fields. 



