PLANTING AND CULTIVATING. 4! 



extracted locally in East Africa has been valued as high as 40 

 per ton. Two pressings are usually made. The first, or cold 

 pressing, which produces the finest quality, furnishes about 20 per 

 cent, of oil, the remainder being extracted with the aid of heat. 

 The seeds are sown 2 to 3 feet apart and the crop is produced 

 five or six months after sowing. 



Chillies are usually raised from seed in prepared nursery beds. 

 The young plants may be transplanted when they have grown 

 2 or 3 inches high, and planted in rows 3 feet apart and about 

 2 feet apart in the rows. Chillies should be harvested with the 

 stalks attached, and carefully dried in the sun. These stalks 

 should, however, be picked off before shipment. 1,500 Ibs. per 

 acre is considered a fair crop, but as much as 2,500 Ibs. per acre 

 has been obtained. The market price of Zanzibar chillies has 

 fluctuated during the last two years between 175. and 253. per 

 cwt. 



The exports of maize from Tropical and Sub-tropical Africa 

 have increased considerably during the last few years. The 

 yield in East Africa varies between four and ten bags of 203 Ibs. 

 weight per acre, but in the corn belt of the United States the 

 yield is as high as twenty-two to twenty-four bags per acre. 

 Natal maize realised about 7 per ton in the London market in 

 1907. The large growing varieties should be planted 3 by 3 feet 

 apart, but for the smaller growing varieties 3 by 2 feet is 

 sufficient. 



Cassava has been profitably cultivated as a catch-crop with 

 Hevea in some of the plantations in the East. It would, how- 

 ever, seem preferable, for reasons already described, to choose 

 some other crop less closely allied to Hevea. Cassava belongs to 

 the genus Manihot, which like Hevea is a member of the Euphor- 

 biaceous family. 



No matter what plants are grown as, secondary crops with 

 rubber they should on no account be allowed to interfere with 

 its development. This frequently occurs owing to the secondary 

 crops being planted too close to the rubber. The rate of radial 

 root-growth of Hevea varies considerably under different con- 

 ditions, but it will generally be greater in light open soils than 

 in those of a closer and richer consistency. It is considered that 

 when the tree is growing satisfactory a space of at least i to i A 

 foot per year radial increase of root-growth should be allowed for. 



