CHAPTER XV 



NURSERIES 



WHILE the operations of felling and burning are in pro- 

 gress, steps ought to be taken at the earliest possible 

 moment for the establishment of nurseries. It is always 

 advisable to buy the Hevea seeds for these nurseries from some 

 plantation with a good name for the condition of its rubber, and 

 one which has trees of mature age. 



Seeds should never be taken from a plantation which is 

 known to have large areas of trees badly afflicted with warty 

 growths or burrs under their bark. There are such. Seeds 

 should not be purchased from plantations whose soil is poor 

 and impoverished. There are such also, as readers will have 

 gathered from previous remarks. Even in the case of good 

 old estates, of former high reputation, when one hears of large 

 numbers of acres of mature trees being rested, of bad bark- 

 renewal, and of programmes of extensive thinning-out, it is 

 better to go elsewhere for seeds, as the trees there are devoid of 

 most of their vitality, and the seeds from them have a poor 

 prospect of developing into vigorous young trees later on. 



The heaviest seeds are not only the most productive, but 

 generally the most vigorous and enduring. Care should there- 

 fore be taken to select large seeds, and to reject small, shrunken 

 and misshapen seeds. Those interested in practical forestry 

 have found that the largest seeds produce the strongest and best 

 growing trees. The same rule should, therefore, be followed 

 by rubber planters. 



Seeds should always be purchased with a guarantee of 

 80 per cent, germination. Seeds purchased with such a 

 guarantee cost a little more per thousand, but that is a small 

 matter compared with the corresponding advantages. One 

 may fairly be certain that the vendor of seeds under a guarantee 

 will see that they are freshly gathered, promptly packed, and 



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