TREES THAT COUNT HEVEA BRASILIENSIS 21 



tricity of yield which is a feature of the tree in alien 

 lands. In the majority of cases where the Hevea 

 has reached a tapping stage, when i lb. of dry rubber 

 at the lowest computation ought to have been pro- 

 duced, only one-half of this amount has been 

 realised, a result entirely owing to faulty " milking " 

 and ignorance of the treatment the tree ought to 

 receive. A plantation six years old, where the trees 

 are 12 feet by 12 feet and showing an average girth 

 of 18 inches, ought to yield 250 lb. of dry rubber to 

 the acre per annum. At seven years old the planta- 

 tion should be in its prime and possess no tree less 

 than 20 inches in girth. Such a plantation will 

 easily give dry rubber 400 lb. per annum to the acre 

 — a highly satisfactory return in all conscience. 

 With the high price lately realised for the product, 

 there has become associated with the planter's art 

 an elaborate system of machinery, the purpose of 

 which is to place on the market in the shortest 

 possible period a finished rubber, clean and attractive 

 to look at, whilst possessing at the same time all 

 the best qualities of the Brazilian Para. It is too 

 early to make a final pronouncement relative to this 

 bold departure on the part of the Anglo-Saxon 

 planter ; but it is encouraging to find that fine crepe 

 from the Mid East at present fetches a price not 

 exceeded by smoked Para, whilst " Lanadron 

 blocks " run both very close in a keen market. It is 

 quite possible that this question of machinery will in 

 time revolutionise the market in respect to the 

 grading and pricing of rubbers, and the value of a 

 tree — the tree that counts in a plantation — will be 



