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CHAPTER XII. 

 Interplanting. 



THE CATCH CROP THE CHINESE AND TAPIOCA DIS- 

 APPOINTMENTS THE VALUE OF TAPIOCA LAND 



GAMBIER, COFFEE, PEPPER, COTTON, PINEAPPLES, 

 COCONUTS, TEA WHAT EXPERIENCE TEACHES. 



n" N HE entry of plantation rubber into the general 

 scheme of tropical agriculture coincided un- 

 fortunately with a pronounced dearth of available 

 capital, both locally and in those markets which look 

 for high and quick returns on advances. Hence 

 planters who were tempted into embarking in the 

 new industry looked around for anything which, 

 utilised as a catch crop, could be interplanted among 

 their rubber trees, and thus secure a safe and certain 

 annual return until such time as the rubber came into 

 bearing. 



But the difficulty lay in the choice of that crop. 

 To begin with, the planters themselves knew little 

 or nothing of the new rubber tree, and not much 

 was to be learnt from the Government authorities 

 regarding interplanting, inasmuch as accessory crops 

 amongst rubber had not as yet entered into the range 

 of their practical experiments. Nevertheless the 



