THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



Better Rubber Trees. 



By J. P. Re 



Now that hundreds of thousands of acres have been planted 

 with Hczea rubber and have come into bearing, the mis- 

 takes made in the beginning come to light. That mistakes 

 were made is not surprising, considering the feverish haste in 

 which this planting was done. The directors and investors were 

 probably not familiar with the principles underlying agricultural 

 enterprises and expected only as speedy returns as possible, on 

 the money invested. At the time of the rush not enough tech- 

 nically trained men were available to take care of the new- 

 undertakings, and as a result we now have to face many prob- 

 lems which would not have come up had the foundations been 

 properly laid. Some of these mistakes can be remedied, others 

 cannot, except by cutting down the whole plantation and starting 

 anew. While in the end this might pay, stockholders and in- 

 vestors naturally are loath to chance it, especially as every well- 

 managed plantation brings in a substantial dividend as it stands. 

 But with keener competition and diseases demanding more atten- 

 tion, it is imperative to any company undertaking new plantings 

 to avoid the mistakes made in the past. 



Luckily the scientific side of the industry is gaining recognition 

 and confidence by the practical planter. Yet today it is prac- 

 tically only the question of diseases which receives attention, 

 while the more important point of correct planting is neglected 

 nearly as much as it was in the beginning of the planting 

 industry. I call this point more important because the matter 

 of diseases does not demand attention until after the plantation 

 has been well established, while the trees, once planted are there 

 to stay. Now and then something has been said about breeding 

 a better strain of Hcz-ca, and seed selection has been given some 

 consideration but no serious attempts have been made to improve 

 the situation. 



A SIGNIFICANT COMPARISON. 



To make clear the faults of the present system of planting, 

 I should like to compare a rubber plantation to an orchard. 

 Following the same methods as those employed in planting 

 Hez'ea, the procedure in an apple orchard would be as follows : 



A number of apples would be gathered, composed of perhaps 

 two hundred varieties, good and bad. The seeds would be 

 taken out and the soundest ones selected and planted in a 

 seed-bed. After a set time a number of seeds would germinate 

 and these would be planted, discarding all the rest. In planting, 

 the young trees would be planted, say 9 by 18 feet. When, 

 after a number of years, the trees began to bear, they would 

 be found to be too crowded and half would be thinned out. 

 Selection as to the merit of the fruit woidd be carried out as 

 far as possible without disturbing the planting distances too 

 much. 



How soon would a fruit farmer be in the poorhouse if he fol- 

 lowed the above method? And why are our rubber plantations 

 planted in exactly that way? Because they pay dividends as it is, 

 or because it was always done that way? 

 RUBBER GROWING IS MORE HORTICULTURE THAN FORESTRY. 



Some persons contend that a rubber plantation cannot be 

 compared to an orchard, that it should be treated as a forest. I 

 think that many mistakes in planting find their origin in this 

 conception. The problems of the rubber planter are not those 

 of the forester, but those of the horticulturist or agriculturist. 

 In such an intensive culture as that of Hevca the tree must be 

 treated as an individual and not all the trees as one collective 

 unit. The matter of diseases is one for the mycologist to deal 

 with; improving the race is for the physiologist or the horticul- 

 turist to consider; in short, all the problems encountered by 

 the man who has an orchard are the same as for the rubber 



planter. The fact that an orchard measures perhaps one hundred 

 acres and a rubber plantation one thousand or ten thousand 

 makes no diflerence. Unless each tree is given proper attention 

 and made the best there is, the whole cannot be satisfactory. 



Upon superficial inspection a rubber plantation looks very 

 much like an orchard planted from seed. The size and markings 

 of the seeds, the size and color of the leaves, the mode of 

 branching, the appearance of the bark, etc., are some of the 

 more obvious diflferences. And that this variability applies to 

 the much more important factor of yield is known to every 

 planter. The following figures, obtained during the course of 

 an extended experiment, show the extent of this. Of 250. trees, 

 the dry rubber yield of which was measured daily, the lowest 

 \ielder gavt 16 grams while the highest gave 342 grams during 

 the same period. These trees were taken at random, but the 

 average for the whole lot was the same as that for the entire 

 plantation, namely 66 grams. Now, if only trees of the type 

 yielding 342 grams were planted in the beginning, the production 

 of the plantation would be five times that of today. Is there 

 any comjiany which cannot afford to wait an extra year if 

 necessary to make proper preparations? 



I do not mean to attack the selective thinning methods ad- 

 vocated by progressive planters; the more systematically this 

 is done the better. The best practice is not to plant inferior 

 trees to begin with, so that later on selective thinning will 

 be unnecessary. The argument that a newly formed company 

 cannot w^ait any longer for rubber than is absolutely necessary 

 is like arguing that a new factory should be erected without 

 foundations because that will hasten production by six mouths. 

 PRINCIPLES GOVERNING STOCK SELECTION. 



Then how should better planting stock be obtained? Before 

 answering this question, I would like to point out the guiding 

 principles which should govern the selection of slock. These 

 principles concern : 



3. Quality of the rubber. 



Yield. Besides being dependent upon external conditions, such 

 as physical and chemical conditions of the soil, climate, and the 

 like, the yield is an inherent character of the tree, and any 

 amount of cultivation cannot improve it beyond a certain ma.Nim- 

 um peculiar to the individual tree. 



Disease Resistance. While yield has been mentioned fre- 

 quently in this connection, the question of disease resistance has 

 been scarcely touched upon. It is a well-known fact that where 

 one strain is susceptible to disease, another is not. This holds 

 good in the plant world as well as in the animal world. Field 

 mice, for instance, are highly susceptible to glanders, house 

 mice are almost completely immune ; Jersey cows are more 

 liable to tuberculosis than Holsteins; and Yorkshire swine are 

 more resistant to swine-erysipelas than some other porcine 

 breeds. It has come to light in the experience of every physician 

 that members of the same family, exposed at the same time to 

 the same possibilities of infection show greatly varying suscep- 

 tibilities. Many varieities of apples and pears cannot be grown 

 because they are sure to fall prey to some disease, while other 

 varieties are totally immune. Practically every planter has 

 noted that certain trees are easily infected while adjacent trees 

 are passed untouched. The reason for this phenomenon lies 

 in the inherent immunity to disease in the individual tree. 



Quality of the Rubber. No extensive work has been done 

 regarding the variability in the quality of the rubber derived 



