20 



THINNING OUT. 



By T. J. Gumming, 

 (Manager, Seafield Estate, Selangor, F.M.8.) 

 TN the early days of rubber planting few I'ealized to Avhat 

 magnitude a tree 15 to 20 years old would attain, and most 

 planters made the mistake of planting too closely — some more, 

 some less — common distances being 10 ft. x 10 ft., 10 ft. x 15 ft., 

 12ft. X 12 ft., 15 ft. X 20 ft., and .so on. 



Though these distances have since been found to be too close 

 there is a good deal of reason in the case of the early planter who 

 planted closely, as no one at that time could foretell the future of the 

 marketable product, and, while the price of rubber was booming at 

 106". to 12s., thei'e was a lot of profit to be made off an acre carrying 

 from 150 to 300 trees, and in the case of the private owner, he 

 naturally wanted the maximum yield in the minimum time. 



Then, too, labour was cheaper, and the profits were sufficiently 

 large to allow of little extravagances, or rather, what appear as 

 extravagances to-day, to be glossed over. 



Need for Thinning. 

 The slump in the price of rubber caused planters to look around 

 for ways and means of curtailing expenses, and a point that was 

 quickly apparent was the fact that practically the same crop could be, 

 and was, being got off an acre carrying 100 trees as off an acre with 

 double the number of trees, and the cost of tapping in the latter case 

 was naturally double the former. 



There appeai-ed also with the close planting the delay in bark 

 renewal, and this, of course, meant loss of money, as the longer the 

 period required for renewal the less the yield per acre over a pei'iod 

 of years. To commence with, a two years' renewal was considered 

 sufficient, and it appeared to be so until the next two years' renewal 

 came to be operated on, when it was found the bark was not nearly 

 ready for tapping, and wounding and I'educed yields were the result. 



It was noticed that trees on the outside of the fields or near 

 roads where there was any extra space appeared to have a much 

 better bai'k renewal than those inside, and this probably first led one 

 to consider the necessity of light and air to procure good healthy 

 bark renewal in a reasonable period. 



The Agricultural Department were at the same time working 

 on the subject of the rubber tree and it was pointed out in various 

 lectures and bulletins that latex was formed in the leaves of the tree, 

 and that without a good head of leaf the tree could jneld but little 

 latex. Well, as everyone knoAvs, with close planting all the lateral 

 branches get pushed or drawn up almost perpendicularly in order to 



