850 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



discussed, and a diajirani is given of an o]ien-(ank treating i)lant adapted for 

 piling. 



Rubber in New Caledonia, Ktessk (Agr. Prat. Pays (Jhauds, 7 (1907), 

 No. 53, 1)1). I()l~l.i0, pgs. J). — An account of tlie development of the rubber in- 

 dustry in New Caledonia, including historical notes, statistics of exports from 

 1898 to 1907, and the text of laws enacted by the Chamber of Agriculture with 

 regard to planting and methods of exploiting rubber, together with the botan- 

 ical characteristics of the different varieties of FicuH prolixa or Schlechteri, 

 which is said to be the only successful rubber-producing species in that country. 



The author describes the conunon methods of harvesting and preparing rubber 

 in that region and the work of reafforestation, and emi)hasizes the importance 

 of continuing this work In the develoitnient of the colony's resources. 



The Federated Malay States rubber industry, J. B. Carruthers (Abs. in 

 Trap. Ayr. and Mag. Ceylon Agr. Soc, 29 {1901), No. 2, Sup., pp. 31-33).— A 

 repoi't on rubber planting operations in the Federated Malay States for 1900. 

 At the close of that year the total acreage planted to rubber in the Malay 

 Peninsula was 99,230 acres, of which 85,579 acres were in the Federated Malay 

 States, or an increase of over 45,000 acres since the end of 1905. The total 

 number of trees i)Ianted in the Federated Malay States up to December 31, 

 1900, was 10,745,002 as compared with between 0,000,000 and 7,000,000 at the 

 end of 1905. The output of rubber in 190G was 385 tons, or about 3 times as 

 much as the previous year. The average amount of dry rubber extracted per 

 tree is calculated at 1 lb. 12 oz., although the trees over 10 years of age are said 

 to yield more than 2 lbs. per tree. 



In connection with the present report notes are also given with regard to the 

 future of plantation rubber and the importance of combating diseases and in- 

 sects on rubber estates, as well as the question of labor and the opening of new 

 rubber lands in the Federated Malay States. 



Tapping experiment with Kickxia elastica, A. Zimmermann {Pflanzcr, 3 

 (1907), No. 12-14, pp. 182-187). — The author describes a new method of tapping 

 this species of rubber tree, with which he is experimenting in Cerman East 

 Africa. The trees are tapped through a series of small horizontal knife cuts, 

 the cut being made at such an angle that the flowing latex from a series of 

 cuts is made to run down the bark of the tree in a single path, this path being 

 determined by first jtaintlng the bark with moist latex. The latex has a tend- 

 ency when flowing to keep to the strip which is painted, and when conducted 

 below the different series of cuts it Hows through a zinc gutter fastened In the 

 tree into a receptacle at the base. 



This method is said to be adapted for K. elastica since the latex is relatively 

 thin and the bark fairly smooth, so that the latex can be conducted down the 

 tree without any difficulty. No large rpiantities of rubber have been secured 

 thus far, as the trees are young, but from the present work the author is led 

 to recommend the planting of this species in German East Africa in regions 

 where the soil is somewhat fertile, periods of drought not too severe, and the 

 altitudes around 500 meters above sea level. 



DISEASES OF PLANTS. 



Plant diseases and other injuries to cultivated plants, K. A. Malkoff 

 (Ghod. Otchet Drzhav. Zeml. Opitna Stant.z. tiadovo [Jahresber. Staatl. Landio. 

 Vers. Stat. Sadovo], 4 (1906), pp. lJf7-176). — Notes are given on preventive 

 treatment for stinking smut of wheat, cotton diseases, a disease of anise, and 

 bacterial diseases of sesame, and miscellaneous observations on diseases and 

 insects found attacking a large number of economic plants. 



