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in Malaya every kind of germinated seed that is planted out receives 

 a fostering care that is tending towards a state of things which 7nay 

 lead to an outbreak of disease resulting in the extinction of the 

 industry much in the same way that Hemileia vastratrix disposed 

 of coffee in Ceylon. 



Leaving theory on one side, is thei'e any evidence to show that 

 degeneration is taking place ? Possibly some may be found in the 

 large number of trees, especially on the newer planted estates, whose 

 bark consists largely of " stone " cells, so difficult to tap. A railway 

 journey, say from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, reveals numbers of 

 trees whose bark is cover-ed with an unhealthy looking green fungoid 

 growth. I^either of these conditions are natural, and although 

 unsuitable soil, bad drainage, etc., play their part in producing them, 

 there can be little doubt but that unhealthy stock in many cases is a 

 contributory cause. Again it must not be forgotten that these 

 degenerated specimens of Hevea produce flowers, the pollen from 

 which may be carried some distance and cross-fertilize with some 

 quite healthy tree, the seed from which may be being reserved for 

 stocking nurseries ; and so the game goes on. 



Turning now to the question from a latex-producing point of 

 view, the writer has been experimenting for some time with a view 

 to obtaining reliable figures from which some conclusions may be 

 drawn. Fortunately, the complete history of the trees experimented 

 with is known, and is stated below. 



Block A (trees now 17 years old) was planted with seeds 

 taken from five years old trees which in their turn were planted 

 from seed of the old trees originally brought to Perak by, I 

 believe. Sir H. Low, so tliat they represented the third generation 

 of the seed brought over from the Amazon by Wickham. The block 

 was ox'iginally planted very closely and has been thinned down to 

 an average of 90 trees per acre. For nearly two years 85 trees 

 have been under constant observation, good, bad and indifferent 

 milkers been duly noted. All diseased trees had been cut out and 

 those that remain appear quite healthy. ^ The latex from these 85 

 trees has been coagulated in the cups on various occasions, and the 

 dry rubber from each carefully weighed on a medical balance and 

 duly noted. 



The result is that the average yield per ti'ee was 155 grains per 

 day fi'om all the various tappings, only 33 trees gave results above 

 the average, their average yield being 281 units per tree per day, 

 while the average yield from the 52 trees below the general average 

 is only 75 units. 



Block B was planted up from seed taken from the trees on 

 Block A when they were five years old and the trees here are 

 consequently 12 years old. Fifty trees have been experimented on 

 (one was found to be suffei'ing from white ants and was cut out). 



