PLANTING AND CULTIVATING. 39 



are raised in bamboo pots or baskets there is little danger of 

 damaging the roots, as they may be taken out of these with the 

 ball of earth almost intact. 



BETWEEN-CROPS AND CATCH-CROPS. 



The cultivation of between-crops or catch-crops in con- 

 junction with Para rubber is greatly recommended for several 

 reasons, the most important being that it is a fallacious policy 

 for a planter to only invest in one product, especially one of 

 which there is a possibility, however remote, of its market price 

 falling below a figure at which it could be profitably produced. 

 Other potent reasons are that well-chosen crops tend to check 

 the spread of disease, and if a judicious rotation of catch-crops 

 be employed the physical condition of the soil is improved by 

 the constant tillage and weeding which the cultivation of these 

 crops entails. 



Crops which are nearly related to Hevea should be avoided 

 as being liable to introduce disease instead of checking its 

 spread, since a specific disease generally confines its attacks to 

 nearly allied species. Cocoa, coffee, and tea may be profitably 

 planted as between-crops but it is considered that they should 

 be substituted by annual or small growing crops in every 

 instance where the rubber is planted at less than 40 feet apart, 

 in view of the rapid growth of Hevea. Its development is the 

 primary consideration and should on no account be interfered 

 with by secondary crops. 



The soil and climatic requirements of the Para rubber tree 

 and the cocoa tree are very similar. As shade- trees are generally 

 considered necessary for cocoa, Hevea could be advantageously 

 adopted for this purpose in place of the ' Bois immortel " 

 (Erythrina spp.) which yields no commercial product. Due 

 consideration must, however, be given to the fact that the 

 Para rubber tree is not evergreen, and that it usually loses its 

 leaves during the dry season. Where this season is protracted, 

 or excessively hot, dry winds occur at this time of the year, the 

 cocoa would require shade-trees which carry their foliage during 

 this period. Cocoa is usually planted about 15 by 1 5 feet apart, 

 and the shade-trees 45 by 45 feet apart, so if cocoa were grown 

 in conjunction with Hevea as a shade-tree there would be 193 



