PLANTING-OUT 91 



for planting-out, as is nearly always done. Seeds are not 

 expensive and the cost of the establishment and upkeep of 

 nurseries is so very moderate a sum that it would pay well 

 to establish large and numerous nurseries and select more 

 thoroughly. The more rapid and altogether better average 

 growth of the young trees thus secured would repay any slight 

 additional expense many times over. 



This cutting-short of the stems and roots is, of course, a 

 severe shock to the plant, but, given favourable weather, the 

 stump soon establishes itself in the soil and puts out fresh 

 foliage. The bark of a stump is, of course, thicker, and the 

 stem not so juicy as that of a seedling which has been planted 

 at stake. It is therefore not so tempting a tit-bit for porcu- 

 pines, rats, deer, wild pigs and other animals, or for such insects 

 as the mole-cricket. When one states that it is not so tempting 

 to these creatures one does not mean that it is immune from 

 attack. This is very far from being the case; but still it is rare 

 that the stumps get eaten away in the wholesale fashion that 

 seedlings sometimes do. 



There is no doubt that while, as pointed out, stumps offer 

 certain advantages as against seedlings, stumping is an opera- 

 tion of a very drastic nature and very severe upon the young 

 plants. In stumping the green foliage is cut away and the tap- 

 root and small lateral roots trimmed down. There is thus left 

 only a thin rod. The shock to the plant naturally prevents it 

 putting on almost any growth in height and in girth until, if 

 successful, it has managed to establish itself in the soil with 

 fresh roots and has developed fresh foliage. A seed, if planted 

 out in an adjoining field at the same time as six-months-old 

 stumps are planted in the other, will soon equal them in 

 growth and be a better-shaped plant. 



The age of rubber should always be calculated from the 

 time it is planted out. Thus, if six-months-old stumps have 

 been planted out for a month, the age of the rubber should be 

 considered as one month. This is the method of calculating 

 age now generally adopted. 



Whether a rubber tree developed from a stump will have, 

 the same longevity as a tree grown from seed yet remains to be 

 seen. On the face of it, it might appear rather doubtful. A 

 man who had a leg cut off when he was a boy would not be con- 



