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RUBBER SEED SELECTION. 



By J. McNicoL, 



(Manager, Kuala Pertang Estate, Kelantan.) 



n^HE Rubbei' Industry has now reached a stage when it behoves 

 planters and others directly interested to consider the welfare 

 of their plantations. 



There is no gainsaying the fact that luck has followed in the 

 footsteps of rubber planting, and no great credit for its success can 

 be claimed by any one in particular up to the present. Even to-day, 

 you can scai^cely find two planters — or would-be experts — to agree 

 on the fundamental principles of the industry. The reason for this 

 divergence of opinion would seem to be, that tndividual planters 

 have not had the time, nor inclination, to make the necessary study 

 of the why and wherefore ; consequently, the industry from the 

 point of view of scientific cultivation is still in its infancy. 



The majority of estates are now producing, and handsome 

 profits on their production are still obtainable. Therefore, the time 

 seems opportune for giving a little more consideration and study 

 to matters which may have an important bearing on the future 

 welfare of the industry, and may ensure it being established on a 

 sound business footing. 



There are many points which' require elucidation, but the writer 

 proposes to touch upon one only — viz.. Seed Selection, which, 

 in his mind, is the paramount essential^ requiring our most careful 

 study. The quality of the trees is best decided by direct experiment 

 in the field, and having in view ways and means of procuring 

 trees capable of giving the greatest latex yields combined with 

 longevity, it may be of interest to record here what is taking place 

 on the writer's estate with regard to this vital problem of seed 

 selection, in the hope that it may encourage others to take up 

 the all important subject on a much larger scale. 



The original trees from which seeds were selected had been 

 grown from seeds procured from some of the oldest estates in the 

 Federated Malay States. Cai^eful note has been kept of the 

 respective latex yields daily,- over a period of not less than a year 

 — and still continue — from selected trees throughout the estate. 

 Notes are I'egularly made as to general growth and appearance, 

 and during the I'ecognized seeding season, seeds from those trees 

 which have shown the best vesults were gathered by an European 

 personally, and not left to the discretion of ordinary coolies or 

 mandors, whose work is never so thorough or reliable. This matter 

 of gathering by a perfectly trustworthy person is all important, 



