CEAUA UrRHFU 85 



cocoanut plantations at the coast, namely, that 

 more planting' was being done than could be 

 attended to properly afterwards. I know of no 

 plant that responds to the hoe more quickly than 

 Ceara rubber, though on the other hand there is 

 none that suffers more if neglected. In this case 

 thousands of trees were left in a jungle of long 

 grass in imminent danger of fire ; the labour 

 which should have been devoted to them being 

 applied to the preparation of new ground for fresh 

 planting. 



No tapping was in progress, the reason being, I 

 think, that no one connected with the place under- 

 stood how to tap or properly to manage a rubber 

 plantation. Ceara rubber-trees may be tapped when 

 at a height of 1 metre from the ground they are 

 9 inches in girth. In a plantation where the trees 

 are properly and systematically tapped the yield 

 should be at the rate of three to five trees to 1 lb. 

 of rubber per annum. Allowing, the trees being 

 young, that the yield would be 1 kilo from 15 

 trees (56 kilos per hectare), and estimating the price 

 at 6s. 6d. per kilo and the working expenses at 

 3s. 6d. per kilo, these 90,000 trees should have 

 been returning a net profit at the rate of J£900 per 

 annum. 



Some tapping experiments had been conducted, 

 28 kilos (61J lb.) having been obtained from 



