THE 

 RUBBER TREE BOOK 



CHAPTER I 



WHAT A TREE IS 



IT will be generally agreed that it is important that those 

 who grow rubber should have some working knowledge of 

 the nature and the structure of the tree they cultivate. It is 

 not every planter who has had a university course, or who has 

 even attended a course of lectures on botany. To most, scien- 

 tific nomenclature has terrors of its own. A short, simple 

 statement, in which there are no Latin words, and where Greek 

 finds no place, may not be out of place. 



The poet Wordsworth said of Peter Bell: 



" A primrose by the river's brim 

 A yellow primrose was to him 

 And it was nothing more." 



That is true enough, but, as the late Professor Huxley 

 once stated: " It would not have aroused Peter Bell from his 

 apathy if he had been informed that a primrose is a dicoty- 

 ledonous exogen with a monopetalous corolla and a central 

 placentation." 



For those desirous of having a working knowledge of the 

 simpler facts of botany sufficient to enable them to conduct 

 their estates intelligently, simple language is best. While it 

 is true that a little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, it is 

 not so dangerous as no knowledge, and, interest once aroused, 

 the knowledge possessed can, and should, be added to. 

 Though scientific terms may at first appear to be " fearful wild 

 fowl," yet they soon lose their terrors to a persevering student. 



