I 



INDIA- 

 ASSAM RUBBER PLANTATIONS nous 



'. from the sun for some time. When 2 to 8 inches high, the 

 seedlings should be transplanted to a properly dug nursery-bed, well raised and 

 dram should then be planted in lines about one foot apart 



' feet high, they may be put out in their permanent i-.itn.n-. but it is pre- 

 ferable to ivlain them ill the : lU (,, 1 _' |,M-t high. -. Ort to 



it them being eaten by animals. In arliliriul plant md that 



rubber grows best on mounds. In the Kulsi plantation of Amain, lines ar< 

 through I he fore t _'(> feet wide and 50 foot apart from r.-ntre to mil re. On 

 thesci lines l.i foot ^tukes are put up _'."> feel apart. Round each stake a mound 

 is thrown up. I feet lui-h, on uhirh the rultlwr seedlings are planted. In the 

 t harduar plantation the lines are 100 feet apart and the trees plan' 

 but t lie cleared lines of 20 feet wore found insullirient and 



ii'et. thus effectually checking drip and affording tho light necessary for lull 



!i. The tree; may also be propagated from cuttings, which must lx> from 



lleshy shoots obtained by pollarding several branches of an old t roo and 



allowing them to send out shoots. The best time to take cuttings is May and 



June. Kot h in Sil kim and Assam the epiphytic tendency of the plant has I n 



simulated by tying seedlings or cuttings growing in baskets on to trees and 

 allowing them to become attached to and to kill tho trees in the way ah 

 1 1 lent ioiie.1. (I amble gives a full account of the methods of propagation pursued 

 in various plantat ions which the reader should consult, as also the pamphlets by 

 Kald and Coventry. 



INDIAN CAOUTCHOUC. Most of the India rublxir procured from India lias 



.ollected from wild trees in the natural forests. It is collected by the hill 

 tribes in tracts beyond the British frontier, and sold to tho people of the plains 

 in the form of balls that have to be carefully examined for stones or mud placed 

 in tho centre. Tho Government plantations have recently begun, however, to 

 contribute a superior rubber, the proportion of which is likely to be yearly in- 

 creased. The latex is collected during the dry months. Eight oblique cuts are 

 made on the main stem, sloping downwards and at a little distance from each 

 other. The best tool for making these incisions is said to be a carpenter's gouge 

 worked with a small mallet. These incisions should not be deep, as the milk is 

 secreted just below the outer bark, and the lowest should be about 4 feet from the 

 ground. Below the incisions pots or kalaiea are tied round the tree one under- 

 neath the other, wliich are left attached for the day. The trees should be tapped 

 only once in throe years. If tapped yearly they are liable to die. A few spoonfuls 

 of u watery solution of alum are usually put in each vessel of milk, after it has 

 been purified of extraneous matter. The milk coagulates and the rubber is ex- 

 posed to air on sticks and allowed to drain for a week. In a month it is ready 

 for t ho market. The yield from each tree in tho Assam plantations at tho present 

 day is approximately 8 oz. per annum, and the average age of the trees is 

 about 26 years ; but according to some writers, tho trees may be tapped at 14 years. 

 K. S. Carr's remarks (Ind. For., June 1905, xxxi., 335-7) regarding method of 

 tapping pursued in Assam and the coagulation of the rubber should prove in- 

 structive to those interested in the subject, and an article by Mann (The Tapping 

 of Assam Rubber, in Agri. Journ. Ind., 1907, ii., pt. iii., 277-9) should also be 

 consulted. 



Recent Publications. Mann (I.e. 393) reviews in a forcible manner the opinions 

 and conclusions arrived at by Bald, Coventry and Eardley-Wilmot (in the most 



t publications mentioned above on the subject of Indian *-I-M t-taxti,;,). 

 He writes, "The factors which will determine tho practical success of Assam 

 rubber may perhaps be set out as follows : 



(1) " The initial or capital cost of forming a rubber plantation and bringing 

 it into bearing. 



(2) " The age at which the trees will commence to yield. 



(3) " Tho yield which may be expected per tree and per acre. 



(4) " Tho cost of working a bearing plantation, collecting tho rubber, ami 

 placing it on the market. 



(5) " The value per pound of the rubber produced. 



(6) " The permanency of the plantation." 



Mann endeavours to obtain from the publications in his hands on answer to 

 each and every one of these issues, or to show where and in what way available 

 particulars are wanting. His object is, from first to last, to ascertain if experience 

 and knowledge obtained in North-East India justify extended cultivation by 

 pri\ate enterprise, and the form which it should assume. Aa he confesses, his 



653 



RUBBER 

 KLASTICA 



Annum 



1 : . . ; . .-.'.. 



' .ill,'. . 



KpipliyUc 



1 .-.'. !. i.. , . 



Indian 

 Caout- 

 chouc. 



Methol 



,,f i ,... Han. 



Alum used in 

 Coagulation. 



Yit-l.l. 



iin. total : 



F.I. -tor-. 



Mmta 



