22 PARA RUBBER. 



brasiliensis is admirably suited to the conditions obtaining in 

 the Malay Peninsula and adjoining islands, and its cultivation 

 here is a comparatively easy matter. From reports to hand, it 

 would appear that this tree naturally affects swampy places, but 

 here it thrives in any locality at low elevations, and on almost 

 any kind of soil." 



Except near the mountains, the rainfall in this country is 

 about 90 inches per annum, and there is no well marked dry 

 season. The general mean temperature is about 80 Fahr. 



In the Gold Coast, West Africa, this tree, grown in experi- 

 mental plots in the Botanic Garden, Aburi, which is situate 1,500 

 feet above sea-level, and where the average mean temperature 

 is about 81.5 Fahr. and the annual average rainfall 47 inches, 

 promises better results than any other rubber-producing plant, 

 indigenous or exotic. It is likewise favourably reported upon 

 in India, Jamaica, Dominica, St Vincent, Grenada, Trinidad, 

 Zanzibar, Uganda Protectorate, Borneo, Java, and Mozambique. 



The manner in which this tree has adapted itself to the 

 various climatic conditions obtaining in the different countries 

 above mentioned is almost unique in tropical cultivation. 



The tree grows rapidly under cultivation. 



Trees on an estate in Selangor grew to a height of over 

 30 feet with a girth of 19 inches in four years.* 



The original trees, planted at Heneratgoda (Ceylon) in 

 1876, were about 30 feet high and 14 inches in girth two years 

 later.f Jn 1882 the largest tree was 50 feet high, and 25 inches in 

 girth at a yard from the ground. The girth of this largest tree 

 was taken annually after this, with the following results : 



" It was 30 inches in 1883, 36 in 1884,43 in 1885,49 ' n l88 6, 

 53! in 1887, 60 in 1888, 65 in 1889, 69! in 1890, 73 in 1891, and 

 79^ in 1893." 



Mr Derry, Superintendent, Government Plantations, Perak, 

 writes that an eighteen-year-old tree growing at Kuala, Kangsar, 

 has a girth of 8 feet 6 inches at 3 feet from the ground. 



Trees planted on moist land in the Congo grew 16 feet high 

 in two years. 



Ten trees planted in Cachar, North-East India, amongst tea 



* Agricultural Bulletin of the Straits and Federated Malay States 

 June 1902. 



t Circular, Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, Jan. 1898. 



