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so affected should be isolated by digging a deep trench round 

 them about a foot wide, as in the case of the root disease in tea, 

 and, if possible the diseased specimens should be uprooted and 



burnt As Messrs. Ridley and Derry have pointed out, 



this fungus, the mycelium of which is underground, is the worst 

 feature against close planting, as under such conditions it might 

 spread very rapidly. The uprooting of all dead stumps of trees 

 would appear to be necessary if this disease is to be kept in check_ 

 PRUNING YOUNG TREES. 

 " The Para rubber naturally grows to a tall slender tree, 

 and it remains to be seen how by pruning or pollarding the young 

 plants an increase in circumference may be obtained at the 

 expense of the growth in height. Considering what has been 

 accomplished with tea, where plants ordinarily growing into fairly 

 stout trees over twenty feet high have been converted into small 

 bushes two to four feet in height, it would be idle to predict the 

 possibilities with Para rubber. The prevention of the unnecessary 

 growth in height may well form the subject of many experiments. 

 The plants can be prevented from growing into slender woody 

 structures by removing the terminal bud with a knife or thumb- 

 nail pruning, or, as is more commonly the case, by pruning the 

 terminal young leaves and the enclosed bud. If the central bud 

 is effectively and repeatedly removed, without doing considerable 

 damage, the stem cannot grow in height except by means of 

 lateral shoots ; these will subsequently require bud-pruning once 



they have attained the required size At Heneratgoda the 



trees which have forked at 7, 9 and II feet from the ground show 

 an increase of about 30 inches in thirty years or an average of one 

 inch per year, throughout a long and fairly reliable period. Young 

 trees which have been bud-pruned in the manner suggested above 

 show an increased rate of circumferential growth, and this means 

 the attainment to a tappable size at an earlier period." — (Herbert 

 Wright.) 



TAPPING*. 

 "When one considers that the rate of growth of the Para 

 rubber tree in Ceylon is such that a circumference of 20 inches 

 cannot be attained much before the fourth, fifth or sixth year, it is 

 obvious that, under ordinary methods of cultivation, all ideas of 

 extracting rubber from trees under these ages should not be 

 encouraged ... If the tree has a circumference of much less than 

 20 inches, tapping cannot be recommended, because the available 

 tapping area is too small. The production of new tissue would 

 be a strain on the young plant, and the thin bark tissues would 

 probably be quickly cut away long before the desired quantity of 

 rubber had been obtained. . . . 



The best Season to Tap. The Para rubber trees in Ceylon drop 

 their leaves in February or March, produce new leaves and flowers 

 after a leafless phase of a few days or a couple of weeks, and yield 

 ripe fruit in August and September. There is an active vegeta- 



* H. Wright. Para llubber. 



