YIELD OF PARA RUBBER FROM CULTIVATED TREES. 147 



Tree No. I. Tree Nn. 2. 



" Girth at i yard from the ground - 89 in. 56 in. 



Ibs. ox. Ihs. oz. 



Yield of clean rubber (dry) - 15 1 2 n 2 



Yield of scrap rubber (dry) - 2418 



Total 1 8 o 12 10 



"Tree No. i had never been previously tapped, and was worked 

 from three channels, whereas tree No. 2 was worked from two 

 channels only, and was tapped during 1901, and yielded 3 Ibs." 



Tapping experiments conducted in Perak in 1900, on eighty- 

 two trees averaging fourteen years old, produced 341 Ibs. of 

 rubber, or an average of 4.2 Ibs. per tree.* 



Six-year-old trees on the Inch Kenneth Estate, Kajang, 

 Selangor, were tapped in 1902 on fifteen consecutive days, and 

 yielded an average of i Ib. 2 oz. of dry rubber per tree.f 



Four fourteen-year-old trees, growing in the Bukit Sebukor 

 Forest, Malacca, were tapped in April and May 1903, and 

 yielded 10 Ibs. 2 oz. of cake rubber, and 2 Ibs. 2 oz. of scrap 

 rubber, i.e., an average of 3 Ib. i oz. per tree. 



III. GOLD COAST, WEST AFRICA. 



Four ten-year-old trees growing in the Gold Coast Botanic 

 Garden, which is situated 1,500 feet above sea-level, were tapped 

 for the first time in 1903, and yielded 4 Ibs. 3 oz. of dry rubber, 

 or an average of i Ib. of oz. per tree. 



This yield must not, however, be taken as a criterion of 

 the anticipated yield for trees of this age cultivated in West 

 Africa. The trees above referred to are growing in poor, 

 gravelly soil on the top of a hill, a position unfavourable for 

 their proper development. I am quite convinced that the con- 

 ditions obtaining in many parts of West Africa are quite as 

 favourable for the successful cultivation of Para rubber as those 

 in Ceylon or the Malay Peninsula. 



From the tapping results given above, it will be understood 

 how difficult a matter it is to arrive at any really satisfactory 

 estimate of the amount of the yield to be expected from culti- 

 vated Para trees. Providing the site for the plantation has been 



* Report by Mr Derry, Superintendent of Government Plantations, 

 Perak, 1900. 



t Straits Settlements Agricultural Bulletin, Aug. 1902. 



