PLANTING DISTANCES 115 



Its roots extend to much greater distances. The excision which 

 its bark undergoes is a tax on its vitality, such as coconut trees 

 are never subjected to. All these circumstances call for wide 

 planting. For these reasons it would appear that such a 

 distance as 30 feet by 30 feet, which would permit of forty- 

 eight trees per acre, is not planting too widely. A distance 

 such as this would permit of good root development an im- 

 portant matter not generally taken into consideration. Such 

 a distance would permit of fairly liberal supplies of light and 

 air, allow of a wide expansion of the branches of the trees, and 

 hence for a luxuriant foliage, every leaf of which would perform 

 its function of liberating from the carbonic acid gas of the at- 

 mosphere the carbon necessary for the growth of the tree. 

 Such a distance, again, would afford room for cultivation, 

 which also ought to be regarded as necessary on every well- 

 managed estate. 



The advantages of wider planting are well illustrated by 

 some statistics given in Mr Wright's well-known book, Hevea 

 Brasiliensis. The figures refer to trees on a well-known estate 

 in the Straits Settlements. 



Planting A Average Increase in 



Distance Girth 6 Months 



20' x 20' 4J years 2oJ' 2f ' 



36' x 10' 4^ ,, i8f ij' 



i8'xio' 4i 15!' i'" 



From these figures it will be observed that the closer the 

 planting distances the smaller is the girth of the trees, and the 

 increase of girth follows the same rule. The soil of this estate 

 is not rich or the difference would have been far more strikingly 

 apparent. 



Some people have pointed out that, in its native habitat, 

 the Hevea grows wild in the midst of the crowded jungle in 

 Brazil, and argue from this that close-planting does not matter, 

 that it is the natural condition in the jungles of Brazil. It is 

 also the fact that most of the Hevea trees there are very poor 

 trees indeed, and that the average of good trees fit for tapping 

 does not exceed two, or at most three in the acre. 



Man does not, as a rule, want shrubs, trees or animals in 

 their natural condition. He sets himself to select, to cultivate, 



