104 THE RUBBER TREE BOOK 



Wherever double stems develop in young trees one of these 

 stems should be removed as early as possible so that one thick 

 stem alone should be developed. Forked trees are very apt 

 to split during gales of wind. When a forked tree splits in this 

 way, as a rule nothing remains to be done but to cut the tree 

 out, whereas in the case of an ordinary tree broken across, once 

 the stem is smoothly sawn across and the cut well tarred over 

 the trunk again puts out branches. 



As already stated, any pruning of branches should be done 

 while the trees are quite young. It is then that any long, trail- 

 ing branches, or branches making the tree unshapely or one- 

 sided, should be removed. Then also should be cut away any 

 branches growing from the stem too low down. As a rule 

 planters cut away lower branches close to the stem too freely. 

 Trimming of the ends of these branches would often suffice and 

 the branches would later develop into fine spreading boughs. 

 All cuts should be promptly and carefully tarred over. 



Trees which have been broken by heavy gales should be 

 sawn across and well tarred over. Care should be taken that 

 no cracks or crevices exist below the place where the trunk of 

 the tree is sawn off. It is better to saw across low down than 

 to have any such crevices, which would otherwise simply serve 

 as a lodging-place for the ubiquitous spores of fungi or for 

 water lodging in the crevices to cause rapid decay. On one 

 well-known estate in the Klang district this precaution had 

 been neglected, and many trees which had been broken across 

 had to be sawn across afresh, a very severe tax on the vitality 

 of the trees. 



