64 THE WHOLE ART OF RUBBER-GROWING 



the case may be, were gathered. It never occurred 

 to him that the poor tree itself ought to have some 

 say in the business, or that perhaps a mometee was 

 not the most dignified of tools wherewith to tap a 

 rubber tree. 



So much for Ceara in Ceylon. Fortunately for 

 the future of Manihot Glaziovii in the Mid-East a 

 different story can be told of it in the plantations of 

 Southern India, Burma, and East Africa, where the 

 plant had also been introduced. In Madras (in the 

 Nilgiris) the Manihot soon proved its sterling 

 qualities planted at a height of 2400 feet. In two 

 years it had attained a stature of 30 feet, and the 

 following year presented a girth 3 feet from the 

 ground of over 20 inches, and was therefore ready 

 for tapping. Similar results were experienced in 

 South Malabar, where at Nilambur the tree was 

 impatient to produce itself everywhere. 



With regard to Mysore, Mr. J. Cameron has 

 placed on record an interesting statement of his own 

 experience with the Manihot in his " Report on the 

 Lai Bagh Gardens ", dated April 1886 : " Further 

 experience " (he tells us) " has justified my opinion 

 that the Ceara rubber tree is adapted to the climate. 

 Its cultivation progresses so favourably that every 

 encouragement is offered to plant on an extensive 

 scale. The tree loses its leaves during the driest 

 period of the year, and is thus preserved in a semi- 

 dormant state until the vernal showers excite growth 

 again. Judging from our own experience, the Ceara 

 rubber tree requires no pampered treatment, 

 although, like most plants, it prefers a little kind- 



