76 RUBBER 



of the planters keep a car, and " What's mine is yours " 

 is the popular way of looking upon possessions. Both 

 in Ceylon and Malaya there are many little towns 

 scattered throughout the rubber districts, and in most 

 of them an English Club is an important feature of the 

 place. In both countries, too, any planter can get to 

 a railway station without much difficulty or loss of 

 time; and there are good day and night trains to take 

 him to the capital, or to one of the few big towns. 



With regard to the cultivation side of plantation 

 work, the chief matter on which the planters differ is 

 the business of weeding. Some of them are certain 

 in their own minds that rubber-trees grow best when 

 the ground is quite clear of weeds. Some maintain 

 that perfectly clean weeding is a waste of time and 

 money ; they believe in having a clean circle of ground 

 round each tree, and keeping the weeds down on the 

 rest of the land by putting in some varietj'' of dwarf 

 spreading plant. Those who favour this latter plan 

 talk of the manuring properties of such plants, and of 

 the good they do by harbouring moisture. Planters 

 in favour of clean weeding say such plants keep light 

 and air from the ground, and that they are not good 

 food for the soil. At the various Botanic Gardens, 

 especially in Ceylon, Malaya, and Java, many scientists 

 are devoting much time to the study of rubber cultiva- 

 tion and preparation, and this question as to the best 

 method of weeding is receiving a great deal of attention. 



The while we have been talking, we have been 

 making our way to one of the oldest and finest rubber 

 estates in the East. It is known as " Linggi Planta- 

 tions " ; and is situated in the Federated Malay States, 

 in the neighbourhood of Kuala Lumpur, the chief 



