TREES THAT COUNT HEVEA BRASILIENSIS 2J 



The land having been lined and measured, holes 

 to receive the plants should be dug 18 inches wide 

 and 12 inches deep and filled with good soil and a 

 little manure. The stump, seedling, or cutting is 

 then placed in position, care being taken not to 

 injure the tap-root, which should lie in a bed of 

 soil all to itself, with the surface roots lightly rest- 

 ing an inch or two beneath the freshly made earth. 

 Shading and protection from the wind is afforded 

 by placing straw openwork matting round each plant. 

 At the end of the sixth year the trees should be 

 20 to 30 feet high, and show a mean girth 

 of at least 18 inches three feet from the 

 ground, in which case they may be tapped with every 

 confidence. Tapping should not be attempted 

 unless a girth of this measurement is attained, no 

 matter what the age or stature of the tree may be. 

 Quite recently we have had many instances recorded 

 of plantations being attacked by fungoid and other 

 diseases, and in nearly every case, after investigation 

 goes to prove that the predisposing cause (if nothing 

 else) of these dreaded attacks is the tapping of 

 immature trees. Then, again, incalculable mischief 

 is being done by the absence of a recognised system 

 of tapping the Hevea brasiliensis. In scarcely two 

 places where the tree has been successfully acclima- 

 tised do we find the same method pursued. The 

 swift but clumsily skilful manner in which the 

 seringueiro goes " hacking " through his estradas 

 in the seringhals of Brazil would never answer in 

 the case of plantation rubber, although it is quite 



